Waking Up
by SaySaeri
Summary: AU. All he wanted was to be able to care for his husband, even if he got hurt in the end... Ritsu gets into a coma. How much will have changed when he wakes up? Nostalgia-centric. Not a Tragedy.
1. Chapter 1

_Hearing a crash from inside the apartment, Ritsu cringed. He quietly messed with the silver band on his left hand, wondering what to do. He had already called their closest friend, and he was going to be awhile since the train was slow this particular rainy day. _

_He felt so useless... _

_If he tried again to help, it'll make it worse... At those thoughts he rubbed the top of his head, still hurting from when the dictionary was thrown at him. _

_'He's still so angry...' Ritsu began to cry, finally breaking down after a week of his husband's break down._

_'That's right...' Ritsu stood up, walking to the elevator and down to the first floor, walking out into the rain without a care. 'Maybe dinner might help...' _

**_Useless! _**

_He wipes the tears trailing down his face._

**_Annoying!_**

_He cringes at the memory, picking up his pace. _

_I want to forget... _

_He can see it up ahead, the traffic light, now halting the vehicles. 'If I continue like this, I can make it.' He goes into a rapid jogging pace, ignoring the people giving him worried looks since he didn't have an umbrella on him. _

_Feeling his ring becoming a little too tight, he takes it off for a moment. As he keeps moving he absentmindedly wipes off the rain even though he knew it was a losing battle. As he felt the inside of the ring for a second though, he feels some indentions and looked to see. _

_'Did... did he put something on the inside? Why didn't I see this earlier?' _

_"Ritsu? Ritsu?!" At the voice, Ritsu turns, his eyes colliding with blue before a flash to the side distracts him. _

_It was all too fast. The loud noises, a spine-chilling scream. __He felt a ferociously stabbing pain everywhere. _

_At this point, Ritsu couldn't feel the ring anymore and panicked, his chest now hurting at the loss. 'W-where did it go?!' _

_"Ritsu!" He ignored the voice, his eyes becoming so weak it was closing, but still searching for the ring. _

_"Stay with me Ritsu! Ritsu!" He registers the voice, hoping it would help him. "Damn it!"_

_"T-the rin-g," he chokes out, "I-I can't find the r-ring, Tak... Takafu-mi..." _

_"Don't focus on that, don't," he felt hands forcing his face to look up, his eyes barely focusing on the older distressed male trying not to let him rest permanently. "Where does it hurt?"_

_"H-hurt...?" Reality hits him and he sobs, his mind now registering to him the pain at it's fullest. "It hurts!" he wanted to close his eyes so badly._

_I want to forget..._

_"Don't close your eyes!" Takafumi then curses, looking around frantically before trying to maintain eye contact with Ritsu. "Why did you come out here all by yourself in the rain?! Idiot!" _

_"Din-" he hisses in pain, "Dinner..." _

_He hears his friend choke a little, his voice strained as he lightly slapped Ritsu's cheeks to keep him awake. "Idiot! I brought take-out..." His eyes widen seeing Ritsu's eyelids struggle to keep open. "Oy! Don't-" _

_"I... I'm so useless, huh..?" Ritsu whispers hoarsely. "Te-tell him... Tell him that-" __"NO! Don't-!" Takafumi heard the sirens of the ambulance and tried to shake him awake, feeling dread and hope course through his veins. "Ritsu... They're here... See?!" _

_"Make... Make su-sure he eats dinn-ner..." Ritsu whispers weakly, his eyes closing as he succumbed to the coldness of the falling rain._

* * *

**This is a sort of side-prequel for another story that is going to happen soon, involving Takafumi's life as an attorney. Yes, Ace Attorney! I've wanted this for a while now. **

**I'll probably be a little bad at the actual dialogue in court and objections and all that, but...**

**Misaki will be his sidekick and client along with Henmi. **

**- As parody allows, Misaki will dress in kimono and will have the ability to communicate with spirits and Henmi will have extraordinary good luck. **

**This story, it's nostalgia-centric because I wanted to flesh them out and the background of this AU. **

**Then it's Takafumi's spotlight, with them as supporting. **


	2. Chapter 2

It was 8:34 PM when Takafumi woke him up.

"Masamune," he hears his friend whine half-heartedly, shaking his shoulder, "Remember what the other doctors said earlier. Your time's up; finally go home for a few hours or someone's going to finally report you even if you're a doctor yourself."

"I _am_ home," came his curt reply, said many times when someone tried to get him to leave the hospital. The 27-year old responded further by nuzzling snugly into the crook of his comatose lover's neck. Inhaling his husband's scent eased the stresses of his soul greatly.

He can hear Takafumi sighing before walking off to a table to set a container containing some dinner. "At least come eat what I brought."

Grumbling, he carefully got off the bed, mindful of the IV cord. He looked to see a container of stir fry and realized how hungry he was. Stretching, he went out of the room to go to the bathroom to wash up.

...

He paused in front of the room, listening to Takafumi talk with Ritsu. "...An's pregnant, did you know that?" Takafumi begins after a while. "An thinks it's going to be a boy. She's still waiting for you to wake up so you can walk her down the aisle."

"Your brother-in-law came the other day for the first time; like I told you before he's sort of a sensitive so when he came and saw you he bawled and kept going on with 'my precious little brother' and stuff. You got him excited when you gripped his hand."

Masamune hears him swallow, taking a breather. "It.. It's been pretty hard on them; first your father, now you... Your mother's beginning to think it was her fault, and then Masamune argues that it was his fault. I put in my 2 cents later and say it's my fault. I mean, I'm the one who called out your name and you turned... Although, if you did keep running, you would be moving as that truck hit you, so I guess you would be flying in the air like a baseball and that would be worse... right?"

He sighs. "I didn't major in physics, so I don't really-"

"Why do you know more than me?" Masamune decides to interject, nonchalantly entering the room and heading to where his food lay on the table near the window.

"For starters, I actually leave the hospital and talk to people."

"I talk to people."

"Your patients don't count," Takafumi regards him with a frown. "Has Haitani come talk to you yet?"

Masamune glares down at his meal at the mention of Ritsu's physician. "About what?" He was still miffed that he couldn't be Ritsu's official physician.

"Nothing in particular. Just wondering..."

With a scoff, Masamune goes through half his meal as he asks, "So, are you doing any cases at the moment?"

"Yeah..." He watches as Takafumi goes stiff a little. "19 year old accused of killing his parents at the hotel downtown near the capital. His brother is a colleague of mine-do you remember Takahashi Takahiro? Him and Usami Akihiko found him in one of the rooms with the bodies. His hands and part of his clothes had blood on it and the murder weapon had his prints all over it." Takafumi sighs. "The whole thing is strange."

"How?" To him it sounded normal of a murder, although he wasn't told of the motive yet.

"He- Misaki, he couldn't have done it. He didn't remember anything that night up to when Takahashi and Usami found him. Also, the result of death was blunt head trauma on the top of their heads and he's shorter than his parents."

Masamune shrugs. "He stood on something and took them by surprise."

"There was nothing at the scene that implied that; the kid was obviously framed. I think it may involve the family."

"What makes you say that?"

"They..." Takafumi pauses. "They're all sure he did it; no objection, no anything. Even Takahashi... He flipped a switch from talking affectionately about him to..." He trails off, frowning. "Something's up. To top it all off, Usami's going to prosecute against us." He sighs. "Everyone but me immediately backed off."

"You got balls."

"It's not like that," Takafumi huffs, crossing his arm, "I just know the kid's innocent, and it's unfair to him that his whole family be against him without a shadow of a doubt. The kid doesn't even leave the village they lived in. You should have seen him when he saw the security cameras and people taking out their cell phones; he's totally new to the city."

"Then someone's got beef on him and the parents, obviously," Masamune says, opening a bottle of water and gulping it down.

"Yeah..." Takafumi agreed, but his facial expression looked like he was still concerned about something.

Finished with his meal, Masamune cleaned up and took a toothbrush out of his work bag sitting on another chair. "I'm going to get ready for bed. You should go."

"You should go too. Home."

"I told you: I am home." He yawns. "Wherever Ritsu is."

* * *

"The weather looked nice today, Ritsu," Masamune whispered, delicately pressed against his slumbering husband, a light blanket spread on both of them. "I didn't go out so that's why I said 'looked'. You know, like the last how many times." The lights were off, so the sources of light to his vision were the medical equipment and the moonlight cast outside the window.

"I heard the park they were making is finished so we'll go there later. Maybe I'll teach you how to finally ride a bike," he chuckles softly. "Sounds fun, right?" He turns his head to look at Ritsu, and was met with his unresponsive face, his eyes closed in unconsciousness.

Sadly, he caressed Ritsu's soft cheek closest to him, resisting the urge to kiss him awake in vain like he tried the first time when he found out about the accident. He had broken down again then, surrendering his outbursts when he was threatened with security."

"I'm sorry..." he whispers, his throat beginning to ache with his sadness. "I'm so sorry..."

"I love you... so much..."

"Wake up soon, okay?"

He clasped their hands together before falling asleep.

It's been almost three years since that accident.

* * *

**An is Ritsu's sister in here. No objections, right? :p**

**Masamune's a doctor in here; part of this development was one of the reasons for his first breakdown cause it also involved his not-biological father. **


	3. Chapter 3

Who am I? I'm seeing nothing but... darkness? Is this what it is?

I'm breathing... In and out and in and out...

And I feel it again. That sensation of something touching my skin. It's different from the other touches.

...

My skin? My face? No matter how much I try I can't touch my face. Why is that?

"Ritsu..." Another touch to my face. The touch that is different from the others. It feels as if it's always been with me. Each time I want more it goes away. Come back...

That's right... my name is Ritsu. Ritsu, Ritsu... Now I feel something happening to my face, just as I right now wondered how it sounded like.

Another touch to my face... to my lips.

Why...

Why can't I see?

* * *

"I'll see you during lunch, Ritsu," Masamune whispered, kissing his lips once more. He leaned in closer to press their foreheads together before reluctantly pulling away. With a curt nod to the secretly fangirling nurses, he left to meet up with one of his patients.

Watching him leave, one of the nurses looks back to Ritsu, smiling in hope seeing Ritsu trying to murmur something.

...

"Good day to you two," they look to see Shin enter the room, clipboard in hand. "How's our little patient?"

"He's responding more and more to touch," the other nurse says, watching Ritsu's face and noticing his eyes flickering from under the lids. "And his nerves seem to be getting more and more active."

"His lips are moving too," says the first nurse, hopeful, "I think he's starting to hear and trying to respond."

"That's good," Shin writes something down on his clipboard. "Yokozawa said he can be a stubborn try-hard type so physical therapy just might be a breeze."

"Yokozawa...?" Says the other nurse, Umi, looking over at the hopeful one for an explanation. She wasn't here as long as they were. She was sure though that Dr. Takano was the patient's husband of around 6 years now.

"Mr. Yokozawa is their close friend since high school," her short dark-haired, energetic co-worker, Eru, explains, "He comes by a lot to make sure Dr. Takano is eating and seeing how Ritsu's doing. Sometimes he comes with Ritsu's family. Maybe you'll see him later."

"He was the one with Ritsu when he came in," Shin further explains, tapping his pen absentmindedly, "And boy, it was a mess. Takano almost about thrashed on him when he was notified of the accident a week later."

"A week?!"

"Takano was going through something himself when it happened; so it was decided that they wait a week so he can calm down with what he was going through before telling him about the accident." He whistles faintly as he shakes his head. "He may not seem like it, but Takano's like a dormant volcano about to explode any minute."

"That's mostly with you though, Dr. Haitani," Eru says, going to fluff Ritsu's pillow. "You always mess with him."

"Not true! I'm just trying to be real to hi..." He trails off, pausing to watch as Ritsu slowly opened his eyes.

Eru beamed. "Ri-"

"Shh," he shushes, walking toward Ritsu slowly.

* * *

"...accident..."

Accident...? A vision of bright light and blue comes into my mind. Takafumi...

Yes... I was looking at something and then...!

The ring. ...The ring! Where did it go? Will Takafumi know?

"...tellin... hi..bout..the...accident..." Whose voice is that?

"...Takano..."

Takano? Who was that?

Suddenly, I felt a rush through my head.

Amber-brown eyes.

Dark hair.

Warm hands. That sensation again. Was it him?

_"Masamune..." _Masamune?

I feel to pause, was my breath hitching. A dictionary now on the dark-wood floor.

He was angry.

Upset. Slamming doors.

Did he eat dinner? That's right... Dinner... He didn't seem hungry but I... I...

Is he okay now? Along as he's okay...

The sensation I had felt; it's him.

He's here? For me?

He's not mad at me? Is he okay now?

He was here, but he went somewhere. Where did he go? I want to know...

I want to _see._ Then I felt it, above my lips. Yes...

There was light when I opened my lids. Everything was blurry and immediately I want to close them again, a foreign wave that begged me to submit to this strange... _sleepy_ feeling.

Someone's walking towards me. White. A doctor? White and brown, bigger than the other two blurs I notice.

"Are you alright, Ritsu? I'm Haitani Shin, your doctor."

I couldn't answer him. Straining my sight I tried to get a better look at him.

"Don't do that..." A finger touches my forehead. No sensation. I want Masamune's touch again. Where is he? "Try and relax your body. Can you move your hands?"

Relax my body? Move my hands? I manage to tilt my head down to see a hand. Was that mine?

One of the blurs- the one closest to me- touched the hand. I can feel it.

This is my hand. I try my hardest to grip it but I think I was barely gripping. "Good job; you're getting there," the blur praised, a woman. A nurse?

I'm tired now. Above my eyes I can now register the movement of my eyebrows.

"Can you talk?"

Talk? Surely, I am moving my lips now. I don't hear anything though.

"It's okay. You're getting there..."

Now I'm really tired. I see darkness now, comforting me as I go back to nothingness once more.

* * *

Hmm...?

I feel better now. Remembering my eyes, I open them. Slowly, the blurriness goes away, and I notice...

It's dark.

A square different from the larger square it was in; a window and a wall to my left.

_Night time._

It is night now. There is light coming through, and I can see a table... chairs...

A bag on one of the chairs? Whose is that? Breathing in and out, I realize that I had forgotten my nose.

There is a scent I can smell. It smells nice, something I wouldn't expect in a hospital.

Where was it coming from? I try turning my head, becoming a little tired at the effort. To my right, there is a closed door. A light switch on the wall. A picture of a photogenic meadow- purple, green, yellow, red, blue...

Movement.

I feel afraid. It was rising up and down slowly. Someone is here with me. Next to me.

Really, really close.

The smell comes to mind again. Left side is faint but the right side...

Is it this person? I try to turn my head more, and then my body is squeezed a little. I'm being hugged?

There are arms, I see now. Up and right, I tilt my head, trying to see who this person was.

My breath hitches.

A pale face.

Long eyelashes.

Dark hair.

Masamune.

He looks a little different; is it really him?

Why is he here? Did he eat?

He looks tired.

Are you waiting for me? My throat starts to hurt, and breathing becomes hard. My chest hurts.

I want to touch him but I can't.

* * *

*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*

_'What...?'_ Masamune frowned a little, his eyes still shut. _'An alarm-'_

_'The heart monitor._'He opens his eyes, widening at the mesmerizing green ones that were staring at him.

Taking a breath, he just stares, hoping that this wasn't a dream.

That it wasn't-

*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep- Quickly he stops the monitor with the arm and hand on the side that wasn't wrapped around Ritsu, taking out the the wires connecting it to him.

_'His heart rate...'_ Masamune realizes, looking back to Ritsu. "Ritsu..."

_'He's shaking...'_

"Hueh...heu..." Ritsu begins sobbing unintelligibly as he continued to stare at Masamune, tears flooding out down his cheeks.

Gently, Masamune cradles his face, shushing him as he lovingly wiped the tears away with his thumbs. "Don't cry... don't cry..." he whispers, becoming hoarse as he tried to hold his tears back. He put his forehead against his, looking in to those eyes he's been waiting to see.

_'Ritsu...'_

"Ma..." His eyes widened, watching as Ritsu tried to talk to him through his sobbing. "Ma... Mas..."

Masamune began pressing kisses all over his face. "It's okay, I'm here... I'm here..."

He spent the next hour calming Ritsu's crying before they slowly fell back to sleep, with him hoping that Ritsu would wake up the next time he did.

* * *

**He woke up! **

**Now what will happen next...? **


	4. Chapter 4

Hmm..? Slowly, I open my eyes, a groggy feeling sweeping through my body. I hear a deep sigh to my right, and I remember Masamune. Turning my head to see him, I see that he was still sleeping.

He's wearing a white coat? So he's a doctor too? I feel my heart swell; he did it.

Does that mean he's okay with everything now? I...

I really want to touch him.

Glancing down to my limp hands, I wonder how long it'll be before I get my strength back.

Why do I feel so weak though? How long was I out? Surely a few days...

No... I look back at Masamune.

He... he grew. His hair is different, and I notice now glasses hanging out of the top part of his shirt near his neck.

"You're awake."

I look back to the door. A doctor with brown hair... What was his name again...? Haitani... Shin?

He walks towards me quietly on my left side with a smile. "Do you remember my name?"

"Hai..." I begin, having some trouble. "...tani?"

"Yes, yes!" He gestures in a nurse with a wheelchair. Am I going somewhere?

"It's around noon now, and Takano decided to come here to see if you wake up and well..." he chuckles at Masamune. "Out like a light."

"Can you come with us?" The short, dark-haired nurse asks me. "We want to measure, weigh, and x-ray you to gauge your health."

"And to feed you," Dr. Haitani adds to me, "You won't be eating solids for a while."

Oh. Like a baby then? The thought makes me feel embarrassed, the fact that I can't do anything for myself yet. I look to Masamune; he seemed very tired. He'll still be here when I come back, right? I don't want to wake him. Facing Dr. Haitani again I attempt to nod.

"Good then! Let's see..." he and the nurse carefully peel me away from Masamune, and I feel myself heat up for the fact that I felt like a helpless child as they set me in the wheelchair.

"Ah," I look to see the nurse looking over at Dr. Haitani with a nervous smile. "Shouldn't we tell Dr. Takano...?"

"Nah." He quietly, but swiftly pushes me out the door. "He'll figure it out."

I look back to Masamune, mouthing a 'see you soon' before looking ahead and around the surroundings I was being introduced to.

* * *

It was just a hour in when Masamune woke up alarmed to seeing no Ritsu. For a while he patted the bed to make sure and then narrowed his eyes as he walked out the room, snarling. "Haitani..."

...

Ritsu never felt so embarrassed; he wondered what was going to top this later in life.

He couldn't quite get it past his lips, from the spoon the meal equivalent to baby food dribbled down the side of his lips. It felt nice though, that the nurse sympathized with him, as herself was fed like this when she was extremely ill and disoriented one summer during her college years.

Just as long as Masamune doesn't see this, Ritsu thought, it would be okay. It was just so humiliating, and admittedly childish. Of course, Masamune was his husband, and he shouldn't feel afraid to hide anything from him, but this...

This...

This was really embarrassing!

_'But...'_ Ritsu thought, his mindset having not realized how much Masamune changed emotionally despite having been told he's been out some 3 years,_ 'It's just the nurse that will do this right?'_ His mind went back recently (note, long time ago) to when he was sick and couldn't eat on his own; Takafumi and An were the ones to help him through all it.

Masamune didn't seem to particularly care about helping and that was fine by An and Ritsu (Takafumi was obviously a little irked).

Surely, Masamune wouldn't do this with him.

_'Please no, please no, please no,'_ Ritsu prayed silently, trying his best to work his lips and cheek muscles as the nurse continued to feed and praise him.

"HAITANI!" He and nurse flinched as they heard Masamune rounding the corner in a rage. "Where's Ritsu?!"

At this, Shin popped in his head, having been out the room to talk to another doctor, to ask. "Want him to see you?"

Glad that he asked, Ritsu tried his hardest to shake his head no, stopping as he began feeling lightheaded.

"Okay~" In many small, but quick motions, Shin took out his keys and turned on the lock just in case before shutting the door.

* * *

"Haitani..." Masamune tried to go around, frustrated as Shin simply mimicked him.

"He's being fed right now; you yourself should go get something to eat. You're off for the whole day anyway."

"Not hungry," he says, still trying to somehow get around him.

"He doesn't want to see you; he's got food dribbling down his lips like a baby. Let him be fed by the pretty nurse helping him like a mom-teacher."

"There's nothing wrong with that."

"Well, it does; he's awake, Takano," Shin begins, trying to be serious, "He has choices now, emotions and can now somewhat vocalize his needs. And," he laughs, his seriousness fading just as quickly as it came,

"I still haven't told him that you practically changed his diapers for him and everything. The poor thing's going to be so freaked out; he probably wouldn't want to see you for the next few weeks."

Masamune glared at him, his fist ready to knock him out.

"Really though, go eat something. I'm going to let the nurse take him out to the garden to feel some sun while I go through his therapy plan."

"I wanted to take him out," Masamune says, frowning. "Just me and him."

Sighing, Shin took out his keys, faintly hearing the knock indicating that Ritsu was done eating, which wasn't much since his stomach can't take too much yet. "Fine. But you better come back within an hour and not escape with him."

* * *

When was the last time we went outside together? Taking in the outside air of the garden, I breathe in and out before looking down at Ritsu.

Being in a wheelchair didn't seem to bother him, even though he put up a little fit when the nurse pushed him to me.

I frown. Was it me?

The handles of the wheelchair shift a little in my hands, and I realize that Ritsu has been staring at me wondering why we haven't moved. "Sorry," I smile at him, pushing him towards one of the rose bushes.

After that, we go to the fountain and I wondered if Haitani already showed Ritsu what he looked like now.

As we looked into the water, at our reflections, I couldn't help but smile again, at Ritsu.

Ritsu apparently noticed, and blushed, averting his eyes.

"Wei..." Hmm? What was he trying to say?

"What's wrong?" I ask, kneeling next to his side now and grabbing his hand. "Do you want to touch the water?"

Obviously not, with the slight shake of his head. The way he looked at me, he seemed confused about something. Was he wondering why his mother and sister weren't here to visit him? Or Yokozawa?

I didn't want to share him yet; it was tough enough now with Haitani and the nurses. I told myself I was going to feed him and everything but Haitani wants otherwise since Ritsu is his patient.

"Wei...rd," he had a look on his face that ringed, 'I got it!' "Weird!"

"What's weird?"

"..." He blushes. "...You."

I blink at him. "What? What's weird about me?"

He averts his eyes, and he seemed... afraid? What was happening in that mind of his?

"You're... too close." He manages to say, now looking at me a little concerned. "Why?"

What...?

"You..." That look on his face... That sad expression. "You're... n-not... angry... at me..?"

* * *

**Sorry! it's late now, so I'm just going to stop here!**

**Next time: Masamune, from past to present! (maybe)**


	5. Chapter 5

_'Angry?'_ Masamune thought as he walked out of the elevator in his apartment complex. He couldn't fathom why Ritsu would ask that; looking back, he doesn't ever remember any particular moment in which he was angry at him. Well, other than some moments in high school.

He didn't answer Ritsu then, because the nurse came by to talk to him, and Haitani pulled him away to tell him about the housing arrangements for when Ritsu recovers enough and was able to return home.

_'Why would he ask-?'_ He paused, surprised to see Takafumi, who looked back at him with the door a little open, mimicking his expression.

"What are you doing here?" Takafumi asked, despite this not being his home, "Is Ritsu okay?"

"Uh, yeah," Masamune continued walking towards him, reluctantly saying, "He woke up."

"Really?" Takafumi smiled, before realizing something and frowning. "And you didn't care to call us?"

"I didn't want to call anyone yet so..."

"Yeah, yeah," Takafumi went into the apartment, knowing of Masamune's 'I don't want to share' fits, and says, "I know. You don't have to explain."

Following him in, Masamune swept his eyes everywhere. It was clean, everything left the way it was before he left to stay at the hospital.

"As I told you before," Takafumi begins, "I never changed your sheets since you guys' bedroom seemed already neat, so I'd go change that if I were you before he comes home."

"What are you doing here anyway? What about your case?"

Takafumi takes a deep breath and sighs. "Continues tomorrow for another three days."

"Oh? What happened?"

"The parents- the victims were involved with Interpol; now everybody at that hotel is being investigated. Misaki is no longer guilty though; but he's still being kept at the detention center until tomorrow. I'm going to let him stay with me."

"What? Why?" Masamune asked. "Is the whole family still thinking of him as the murderer?"

"Actually, they acted like little kiss-ups and said they knew the whole time he was innocent. Very annoying," Takafumi opens his cell phone to look at something.

"That even made them more suspicious, and Misaki didn't feel safe with them anymore, which was reasonable. Since he doesn't really know much about living here in the city, me and Henmi are going to let him work with us a bit and learn the ropes. He's already 18 going on 19 this year, so he's more than able to go where he wants."

Masamune nods in agreement. "That's good. Does that mean your part in the case is over?"

"Nope. Usami still insists on taking me on for some reason so I guess that means I'll be defending whoever they track down."

"Doesn't he write on the side?"

"I think so-" Takafumi paused upon remembering something, and he made his way to the door. "I'll be right back."

"What?"

"I need to buy you guys' new bed sheets. Don't touch anything," he says, shutting the door.

Scoffing that he was being told that in his own home, Masamune went to his bedroom. It wouldn't be so wrong for him to take out the sheets so it'll be easier to put on the new ones, right?

However, once he pulled off the blankets, he stared at the not-completely-white sheet spread across the mattress. He stepped back a little in disbelief before he remembered, to his horror, what transpired back then. It was a little after he blew up the first storm, too mad to care for anything he did. Angry at particularly no one.

Especially not at Ritsu, but he still...

He staggers back against the bedroom door, sinking down inch by inch slowly. Hiding his face with his hands in shame, he began shaking, his shoulders hunched as he started to sob.

...

"I should've known you'd find out."

Masamune lessened his sobs, still hiding his face as Takafumi walked in with newly bought sheets.

After pulling off the bed sheet, he put it in a bundle and dumped it next to Masamune, who flinched. "Here, go throw these away while I put in the new one."

"When..." Masamune struggled to start, "When did you know..."

"When he called me after he woke up," Takafumi said, remembering. "You left for who knows where after you left him fainted on the bed."

"Fai..." Masamune clenched his hands into fists. "Fainted..."

"He washed them but the blood wouldn't come off so he made sure always to keep the blanket over the bed because he really liked those sheets. Actually, some of it leaked onto the mattress..."

"Oh god..." he choked out hoarsely. "I need to burn it."

"Just throw it away and get a new one like a normal person!" Takafumi scoffs, laying the sheet on and doing the corners.

"Why didn't he..."

"Tell you?" he scoffs again. "What would you have done back then? I doubt you would care. You would always stalk off and slam the doors, and throw things. Ritsu always felt it was his fault for everything you did." Takafumi paused for a moment before fluffing the long pillow that served as both Masamune and Ritsu's.

"You directed your anger towards him, even if you didn't realize it."

Masamune cringed at that, looking up to see that the bed was finished. He stood as his friend walked out into the kitchen, following him, watching as Takafumi sets up for some tea.

"Remember to buy some food before he comes home." Receiving no answer, he looked to see Masamune staring soullessly down on the counter surface. "Masamune?"

"You're better for him... than me."

...

He went back hard as Takafumi slapped him hard across the face, reeling against the counter as Takafumi glared at him.

"Are you saying you don't want to take care of him now?!" Takafumi asks, furious.

"NO!" Masamune yells, glaring as well. "I WANT TO! BUT-"

"BUT WHAT?!" Takafumi shouts, "YOU DON'T LOVE HIM ANY-"

He held his ground as Masamune tried to shove him over. "I LOVE HIM!" he roars, not caring if it bothered the neighbors. "DON'T EVER THINK THAT I-"

"THEN TAKE CARE OF HIM!" Takafumi shoves him back, taking deep breaths before turning on the stove to boil the tea. He glanced to see Masamune leaned over the counter, take deep breathes as he tried to calm down, his fists still clenched. "You know, I'm not Superman," he huffs. "I can't do everything."

He walked to sit on the stool next to Masamune and continued. "And it's not in your right to decide who takes care of Ritsu. Even if he stayed with me, he wouldn't be... happy. Up until he blacked out he was thinking of you, asking me to make sure you ate dinner."

"Stupid," he continues even further. "Both of you."

"I... I don't want to hurt him again."

"Then don't." Takafumi says simply. "We're all adults now compared to back then; although," he got off his stool to take out two mugs. "Ritsu probably doesn't realize that yet. He'll probably blow his eyes out when he finds out An is pregnant, and that his favorite novel series ended on a cliffhanger because the author decided to drop out of it to retire."

"He probably hates me now."

Takafumi rolls his eyes at him. "Are you listening to yourself? You were with him when he woke up and everything."

"He said I was too close and asked if I was still... angry at him."

"See? He doesn't sound like he hates you. Knowing him, he's going to think later that you're with him out of guilt. Even to this day he probably still thinks you don't really love him," he says, turning off the stove as the teapot whistled.

"But I do!"

"Then tell him! You know, it's both you guys' fault that things are like this. Now it's time to fix it."

* * *

Masamune paused before he walked into Ritsu's temporary room. The room as dark, but the moon shined bright enough to see. Quietly, he peered in to see Ritsu sitting up, looking up at the clock on the wall.

Waiting for him.

He swallowed at the thought, nervous. He walked in, his heart racing as Ritsu smiled at him. "Hi," he says softly, putting up his bag on one of the chairs and walking over to him to sit on Ritsu's right side as he always did. "Did you eat?"

Ritsu nods, and Masamune watched as he shakily tried to bring his hands closer to him. Smiling, he took those hands into his own, feeling those hands flexing as they tried to grip on to him.

"You'll get the hang of it soon."

"Di..." Ritsu tried to say, "Did yo...u... eat?"

He swallowed again, reminded of what Takafumi had told him. "Yeah..." he patted Ritsu's hands. "I did." With that, he moved to lay down next to Ritsu, the latter attempting to scoot over until he finds himself lifted slightly to lean against Masamune, who hugs him close.

Finding it comfortable, Ritsu sighs at the position, before looking up at Masamune, unsure.

"What's wrong?"

Ritsu merely continues to look before shaking his head a little in 'nevermind', tilting his head back to rest against Masamune. "'ight," he mumbles, a light blush spread faintly on his cheeks.

"Good night," Masamune whispers, giving a kiss to Ritsu's forehead before burying his nose into his hair. Tomorrow, he thought, he would make sure that he gets to feed Ritsu, and everything else his husband needed and wanted.

* * *

**Wahh! Spring Break's almost over! DX**


	6. Chapter 6

Hmm... Everything feels nice. Opening my eyes, I see the room cast in a light orange tint. Is it morning? Hearing soft snores I remember Masamune, and I smile that I woke up first.

Yawning, I try and stretch out my body; I could faintly feel my muscles working. Looking down, I smile as I can move my toes a little. Hopefully I'll be able to walk soon.

A soft knock gets my attention and I greet the nurse named Eru with a smile when she walks in with a wheelchair.

"Ready for breakfast?" she whispers, glancing at Masamune. After what happened the other day, I still don't want Masamune to be there when I'm eating.

It's so embarrassing! Why does he want to be there when I eat?!

We almost made our getaway, and by almost I mean halfway being carried into my wheelchair.

Masamune's arm remained around me, and once he felt my moving he snapped his eyes open- which was very startling- and narrowed them. "What are you doing?" he asks, his voice cutting through our panicking silence.

"It's time for breakfast!" Eru says, trying to sound cheerful, I think.

"You don't have to." What is he saying? "I'll do it from now on." W-what?!

Nononononononono- I try and scoot away from him to her, desperate to get away. What-

My arms- is this adrenaline?! My arms are halfway up in the air! Wait...

That's not enough, isn't it? I can't even get a good grip yet! "Wow, you're almost there!" Eru praises. "Soon you'll get to open your food jar by yourself!"

Really? I feel a little happy at the thought. If I can open at least one I'll probably cry happy!

I... I'm not in the wheelchair yet, I realized; Masamune and Eru are in a painless tug-of-war. I want to get in the wheelchair. I look at Masamune, hoping he could see that I didn't like this.

He doesn't. He was glaring at Eru.

Now I take a look to the wheelchair. It seemed right within reach if I try my hardest to swing myself over. I can do this. Will by hips and butt hurt? Probably. But it's worth it.

No, not really. But I want to try. I try to get in grip with my body- if I can just put my weight on here...

Then here! *crash* "Ritsu!" I hear Eru shout.

Oww...

Owowow... I lay as I saw stars; my side hurts and I think I bumped my head...

Blinking a little, I look to see that I made the wheel chair fall over- oh. OH.

I did not know I was that far from it.

Suddenly, I felt hands on my face, blushing when I see Masamune's face so close to me. I was lifted into the air and back on the bed, Masamune fussing over me.

It made me feel flustered; I mean, I just fell. He began kissing my cheek and forehead. It felt nice, but he seemed to not understand that he didn't need to fuss over this so much; I look over at Eru for help. To my surprise, Dr. Haitani is here and talking to her.

"Takano," he calls out as if he just entered, "Go get ready for work and let my nurse do hers!"

Masamune glares a lot, I realize. He glared a lot back then too, didn't he? No...

Back then was more of a uninterested and bored look, apart from when he got angry. Now that I think about it, Masamune doesn't have that look on him all that much now.

Which was strange.

It's not like I don't like it, I'm just not used to it. I'm not even given a explanation for this and everyone seems to think normal of it. I don't think Masamune even realizes this.

"Ritsu~" I look at Dr. Haitani, wondering what he wanted. "Do you want Takano to feed you?"

I shake my head, resisting the urge to glance at Masamune. I can hear his sigh though, either dejected or relieved, I don't know; I wondered if he wanted to do this because he felt obligated to.

Masamune seemed... bothered, I think, as he looked at me. "You don't want me to feed you?"

Did he want me to answer him verbally? "N-no..." A part of me wondered if he felt like he felt like he had to, and added, "Do-n't for...ce yourself." Almost had it there... I thought I was going to bite my tongue for a second there!

"Don't force myself?" he repeats, frowning. "What do you mean by that-"

Dr. Haitani pulls him out the door with some protests. "Nuh-uh, off to work we go!"

...

I was almost there by lunch time. The first step.

The first step of opening the jar: putting a grip on the lid.

It took all my might, and only to realize that I don't have the strength to turn the lid halfway. My lips quivered a little, saddened at the thought of how long it'll take for me to lift even barely 5 pounds. I'm 25 now, I think, for goodness sake!

Eru tried to cheer me up as she helped me grip onto my spoon to fed myself. She reminded me of An for some moments; maybe they could be good friends. I wonder how she's doing.

Afterwards she took me back to my room, and another nurse comes in with some objects to help me lift a little to gain back my muscle. They told me that eating and getting my stomach back to normal is top priority with muscle gaining second. Handwriting and reading I could do later.

* * *

Finally finished with his last patient, Masamune cleaned up quickly before heading to Ritsu's room, stopping Eru from going in. He missed lunch and he wasn't going to miss dinner; he had eaten earlier in the evening.

"Dr. Takano!" Eru protests, "Ritsu doesn't want to you feed him!"

"Please, just this once."

"No way! We both know you don't mean that!" She now spoke a little quieter to him, "It would really embarrass him if you did, when he can't get the food past his mouth with his lips. He doesn't want you to see him like that."

Masamune stares at her in disbelief. "That's it?"

"What do you mean 'that's it?'! Really," she puts a hand to her hip. "You don't really understand him, don't you?"

"There's no problem in that though, of course he wouldn't be able to work it all in his mouth completely."

"It's still embarrassing! Ritsu is very sensitive, you know," she says, before reluctantly adding, "He all about melted down when Dr. Haitani told him about the things you did for him. I've never seen him so red and upset."

He frowns. "Did he cry?"

"No, he just looked like he wanted to hide under a rock forever. Me and another nurse had to shove Dr. Haitani out of the room because he kept laughing. And," she huffs at him, "We all told you to let his mother take care of him since she wanted to! What did you think he was going to say about it to you? 'Oh, thanks for changing my diapers and taking me baths! You're the best!'?! He's grateful I'm sure, but it horrified him!"

"I was hoping he wouldn't ask..."

"Really, you're..." she turns back towards Ritsu's room with a long glance at him. "Ritsu wants me to feed him for now, not you. Get that through your head, please. At least abide to his wishes just once. Don't peek either; he glances to the door a lot." With that she went in, leaving Masamune alone to think.

* * *

I've always done what I wanted.

Sighing, I sit in my office with only the moon's light lighting everything up enough. My room seemed professional enough, I suppose. It was devoid of any particular touches.

It was so empty. Glancing around, I realize I don't even have any pictures- do we even have pictures at home? Ritsu and Yokozawa would know.

I lay my head on the dark mahogany desk, the cold surface doing nothing to help me.

We never even did a wedding; court and that was it. I didn't want a wedding, and Ritsu was okay with it.

Of course he was okay with it. But...

Ritsu wanted a wedding, did he? Or maybe wanted a small celebration but a special occasion nonetheless. Now that I thought about it, the only thing material I ever gave him out of our marriage was that ring no longer on his hand. Ritsu would always play with it on his fingers along with keeping it clean. He treasured it.

Groaning, I hit my head against the desk some three times. I'm a horrible husband.

I couldn't even find that ring after two days of searching.

We didn't even go on a honeymoon.

Did we even do anything on his birthday? I hit my head again. Why do I not remember things like this?

Cause I'm an asshole, of course.

He won't even let me feed him. And that really hurt.

_"Knowing him, he's going to think later that you're with him out of guilt."_

That's not true. Never...

If anything, I did everything because I felt as if I was getting closer to him. If I had let his mother take over, she probably would shoo me away. I didn't deserve her only son.

Her only son that I tended to take for granted of in the past.

Her only son that has every right to be angry with me, but he's not. Without knowing it, he spoiled me.

So, it's my turn now. Not because I feel like I have to, like I'm obligated to because of guilt.

It's because I want to. Because I love him.

* * *

**The funny thing about perspectives is that I would agree with Eru, because I wouldn't have known Masamune so personally, you know?**

**I feel like I've put Haitani into a little Isaka role XD**


	7. Chapter 7

He asked me about what I remember.

When I gathered enough thought to tell him about what I remember, I looked to see him sleeping. He's been acting strangely after Eru helped me wash my face and mouth after dinner and left for the night.

Maybe it wasn't strange... just unusual. Maybe. He seemed bothered yet again about something.

I remember mostly everything but the details of that day getting hit by that car. I know Takafumi was there, and that I lost my ring... but that was about it.

I remember what home looked like, and... those sheets. Takafumi must have thrown them away, which sucks because those were really soft sheets I had won at a store lottery. Very soft...

I never won store lottery either so I was really happy.

I wish I could have taken out those spots better though. I hope Masamune didn't see them; he might get upset. He tended to think too much, an observation I made when I saw him become overwhelmed (he didn't show it, but I felt it) with an out-of-the book assignment involving bones. Even Takafumi nagged about it when we went out drinking with us. Well, I didn't drink, but I still went with them.

I hoped Takafumi didn't tell him. It wasn't that bad, that night. I didn't want it that much but he really wanted it, so I let him. I was tired though, so of course I fainted. I don't know where he went when I woke up, and the blood sure did surprise me. When that happened I knew why having lotion or lube by the bedside was important.

I remember that Masamune's birthday is on Christmas Eve, and that we got married...

In the fall? I frown a little, trying to remember. In October? September? In March? No, that's my birthday...

I need to find the papers when I get home...

Papers...? Books...? A dictionary comes to mind. That's right.

He was angry that day. So stressed; I couldn't help him no matter how I tried. The dictionary hurt and I looked up to see him slam the door to another room. I don't think he meant to throw it at me in particular, but I still felt bad.

How did he get through with that happening to him? And what happened to me?

Takafumi might know...

...

Is it morning? I didn't know I was sleeping until I realized that it was Summer; cherry blossoms couldn't be fluttering about this season. I open my eyes to see Masamune changing. Quickly I look away to the window, distracting myself with the sky. There are clouds out.

"You awake?" I focus on him now, as he said that.

"...morning," I say, my voice becoming clearer. Talking and moving my head are becoming more easier than doing everything else.

It goes quiet suddenly, and I remember yesterday. He changed me and everything; I turn away from him, my face probably red.

Why would he do that?! I can't imagine it being willingly...

But, if it happened to Masamune, I would do it. Is it okay to apply that to here?

Wait... he couldn't have done it all the time. Maybe Takafumi helped? Or Mom for a little bit? The nurses for sure.

"What's wrong?" Masamune asks me, and to my surprise he was sitting next to me on the bed.

"You changed.. me?"

"Yes." He continues. "Don't be upset. It wasn't like there was something I hadn't seen yet, so don't worry about it."

"S-still!"

"Would you have done it for me?"

"Y...yes," I say, after a pause. "I would."

"See?" he ruffles my hair. He didn't say anything after that; he just smiles at me.

He...

He looks very nice. A hand on my cheek, he wouldn't let me look away. All I could do was just look back, those amber-brown eyes staring me with a look that made me feel...

...Loved?

Was that it? My heart is beating fast, and I hope he doesn't hear. I feel bad that I couldn't smile back; I merely felt my lips quiver again, not understanding what to do.

"Don't cry." What? I felt a thumb brushing at the side of my eye. I'm crying. Oh no. I want to hide my face, but he won't let me. He kisses my eyes and my forehead, moving my bangs out of the way. I look down for a bit, and I remember my ring as I felt his against my cheek again.

When he put his hand down, I moved my hand on his, my fingers shakily touching the smooth surface of his ring.

He knew what I was thinking about. "When Yokozawa told me that one week I looked around that street after my last classes for two days at least. Some other people ended up helping me too; we're pretty sure it went down to the sewers near the curb."

"O-oh..." I sniff. So I'll never get it back, huh?

"I'll get you a new one."

"No..." I immediately answer. "I do..t want another." If I got a new one, it wouldn't be the ring to his ring and I really don't want that.

He is quiet for a moment, and to my confusion he takes off his ring. Taking my hand in his he puts it on my finger, chuckling since it didn't have a snug fit. It made me smile a little. Lifting my hand a little, I shake off the ring so I can feel it with my fingers; I wondered if he put something on the inside like he did mine.

However, once I feel the engraving he takes it to put it on my thumb. "Let's put it here." I look up at him, and I see that he's hiding something.

* * *

_'Oh crap,'_ Masamune thought, just remembering now what he put on their rings long ago. _'I can't believe I forgot.'_

He could never let Ritsu see what he put. Not many things embarrassed him, but this was one of them. He never told anyone else either other than the jeweler and Masamune was certain that the guy was holding back a laugh.

And he was pretty sure, back then and now, that Ritsu was the only person he was going to love. Not that he'd ever admit that to anyone back then. He always tried to seem composed and not particularly caring by nature, something that stuck to his image along with looking cool even past high school. Although now, getting angry a lot, passionate, and yelling a lot was added to the list.

_'Ugh...'_ He could feel Ritsu looking at him. _'I can't tell him.'_ This fool doesn't even realize that that Ritsu wouldn't think low of him or anything like that if he saw it.

"Did you... put one on mine too?" Ritsu asks him.

Masamune was secretly hesitant to say, but seeing that important-need-to-know look on his face he nodded. "Yeah. It's both..." he sighs. "Both of them have the same saying on them."

"..." He stopped Ritsu as the younger tried to take off the ring from this thumb to see. "Don't look!"

"Why?" Ritsu asks, his lips pouting. Masamune wondered if the man knew how cute he was being.

He refused to back down. "Just don't! It's something you don't need to know."

"I have wanted t...to know w-what it said," Ritsu says to him. "Ple...ase, tell me!"

"What's this?" They looked to see Shin, who grinned at him. "A lovers' spat?"

"Get out." Masamune ordered darkly.

"Come now!" He disappears for a moment to come back with a wheelchair. "It's time for Ritsu's breakfast and bath!"

Ritsu stiffens. "B-b-bath?!"

"Of course!" Shin says, "Eru will be up shortly after she sets it up."

"Oh," Ritsu sighs in relief. He had thought either Shin or Masamune was going to do it on their own.

"I should do it," Masamune says to Shin.

Shin grins at him to Ritsu. "What does the dear patient think?" Ritsu shakes his head furiously before pausing to clear his head of the light headache caused from it. "See? Now go to your office!"

"Ritsu," Masamune pleaded, grabbing his hands. "Let me."

He shakes his head, refusing to look him in the eye. He wasn't ready for them to be alone in that setting yet.

* * *

"It wasn't that bad, right?" Eru asks Ritsu as she wheels him back to his room after his bath. He nods happily, but that was short lived as he remembered how skinny and weak his body was.

Once she got him sitting on his bed she handed him a empty jar so he could practice opening it. "In a few hours we'll go outside, okay?" He nods, and she leaves the room to talk to Shin.

With that, he looks down at the ring on his thumb and takes the opportunity.

And what he saw surprised him greatly.

...

_'Forever, with my first and only love'_

He put that?! Since I couldn't lift my hands up to my face, I couldn't hide my flushed face. I mean, it could be considered a little embarrassing, but I found it touching. I didn't know he thought this of me like I did of him.

What was so bad that he didn't want to tell me?

"Eh, what's wrong?" I look to see Eru, and she takes the ring before I can protest, curiously looking inside. "..."

Placing a hand on her mouth, I gape at her as she hides her laughter poorly.

"It's not funny!" I feel my lips quiver again, "It's touching!"

Dr. Haitani comes in. "What's so funny?" She shows him. "..." Grinning widely, he lets out a loud laugh- seriously, it's not funny!- before taking the ring and running out. "I'm going to tell everyone!" I gape in horror.

"NNnnnoooooo!"

* * *

Almost lunch, I thought as I look down at my watch. It wouldn't be wrong to eat early with Ritsu, and then leave when it was his time to eat.

Stepping out of the elevator, my senses heightened as I heard Ritsu's voice.

"NNnnnoooooo!"

I charged ahead, pushing Haitani back into the room as he was running. "What did you do?" I ask threateningly. I look up to Eru, who stepped back with her hands up showing nothing, to Ritsu, who looked at me in surprise before turning shy and looking away.

I don't see the ring on his hand. Blinking, I go to Haitani's hands, taking back the ring with a glare.

This didn't seem to bother him, because he still smiled and ran out of the room. "I'm still telling!"

Sighing in irritation at the man who was currently acting like a gossiping middle-schooler, I go back to Ritsu and put the ring back on his thumb. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah..." Ritsu says quietly, still not looking at me. "Thank you..."

I hear Eru laughing, "Dr. Takano, I didn't know you could be so romantic!"

Glaring at her for some seconds, she surrendered and left the room to get Ritsu's lunch. When I look back to Ritsu, he was playing with the ring on his thumb, using two fingers to rotate it back and forth.

Feeling my gaze on him, he looks up at me, his eyes lowered in uncertainty before finally looking at me head on. Once our eyes connected he looked down again, making me sigh.

Instead of sitting next to him I lean over his lap slightly, trying to get in eye contact with him. Eventually he lets up, but he glances to the side a lot. "I..."

"I liked it," he whispers, sending sensations down my spine. Lightly blushing, he looks me in the eye for a moment. "I don't think it was funny." He pauses suddenly, and I wonder what was going through his head. Back then I could see through him, but now-

He's smiling.

All I could do was stare. He's smiling. He's smiling? It wasn't one of those sad smiles I saw in my dreams before he magically disappears.

"Thank you," he whispers softly, our eyes connecting on a level that made _me_ want to cry.

This is just like that dream, but happy. He isn't going anywhere. He isn't sad. He isn't going to leave.

I wasn't aware of the fingers shakily making their way up on the right side of my face. Once I did, I put my hand over his and brought it up to my cheek. Before I knew it, I had my head on his lap and stomach, my arms wrapped around him.

He's so warm. From here I can hear his heartbeat too. The sound makes me smile. I sigh as I feel his fingers going through my hair.

"Thank _you_," I whisper back, savoring the moment before Haitani and Eru come back.

I can't wait until I'm able to take him home.

* * *

**I can't wait to do the backstory for Ritsu's parents. I really like to think that Ritsu is more like his father, with some quirks from his mother. But prepare, it's sort of a sad story, cause- dundundun, An is his step-sister, but a sister nonetheless.**


	8. Chapter 8

_'Ugh...' Masamune groaned as he awakened, finding himself on the couch slumped uncomfortably over the armrest. He stretched, wincing slightly at the pain. 'What happened?' He yawns, scratching his head as he glanced around seeing that the natural light throughout the room meant it was the afternoon. _

_"Ritsu?" _

_No response. Frowning, he sauntered about, finding no sign of the brunet. Did he do something wrong? He remembered that he felt... he was so... angry. _

_He... did he yell at him or something? _

_"Ritsu, if I did something, I'm sorry..." He said aloud. _

_'Maybe he went somewhere.' Finding his phone stuck between the couch cushions, he begins calling. _

_To his surprise, he found Ritsu's cell phone on the kitchen counter. _

_"Idiot... leaving without your phone." He whispered to no one in particular, flipping Ritsu's phone open. _

_'Yokozawa was going to come?' He doesn't recall their friend over last night. 'Did something happen?' _

_Once Takafumi picked up Masamune's call, the latter frowned upon hearing rushed voices and beeping. "Yokozawa?" _

_"...Masamune?"_

_"Did something happen? It sounds busy wherever you are." _

_"..." _

_"...Is something wrong?" _

_"Are... Are you alright?" _

_"Um, yeah. Do you know where Ritsu went? He left his cell phone here." _

_"He's- he's with me." _

_"Can I talk to him? Last night I-" _

_"He can't." Masamune hears more rushed voices. "He... he said you needed space, so he's staying with me." _

_"What?" Masamune felt something was wrong; Ritsu... he wouldn't actually think that he needed that, did he? "Let me talk to him," he says in an urgent tone. _

_"He can't. Just... Just give a week or so. You have those exams right? Just focus on that." _

_"Is... is he angry at me?" Ritsu never seemed angry at him. He couldn't imagine it. He swallowed, a horrible feeling washing over him._

_"...Yes. I swear though, if I catch you out drinking-" _

_"I won't!" he says, now annoyed by the warning. He wasn't drinking for fun you know. He was going to hang up but sucked in a breathe upon remembering Ritsu. "Please, can I just talk to Ritsu?" _

_"No, he- Aaaaahhhhh!" Masamune startled at the scream that interrupted Takafumi. __It sounded like Ritsu. _

_"Ritsu?!" Masamune said into the phone, hoping his voice could reach him, "Ritsu?! Oy, Yokozawa!" _

_"Did you eat last night?" He could still hear Ritsu's faint screaming in the background. Why was Takafumi being like this?_

_"What's happening to Ritsu?!"_

_"Did you eat last night?" _

_He gave out a frustrated sigh, speaking quickly. "Sure. I guess so. I see a dirty dish in the sink."_

_"Good. Make sure you eat everyday and-" _

_"Yokozawa," he warned, annoyed with the sudden mothering. __He hears a sigh at the other end. "He's just... hurt, okay? Just focus on studying, please. Give him a week." _

_"Oy-" He stops there, hearing the long beep indicating that Takafumi hung up on him. No matter how much he would call after that, Takafumi didn't pick up._

_..._

_Silence. That was all he heard. _

_..._

_No Ritsu shuffling around, no sounds of books being read other than his class material. _

_The television doesn't help. Just pure noise with no live commentary and chat from Ritsu. _

_..._

_No Ritsu greeting him back home or leaving with him to go shopping. _

_..._

_He didn't realize he was sort of a sleep hugger when he woke up hugging Ritsu's end of the pillow to his face and chest, murmuring his love's name before realizing that it wasn't him, it was a pillow._

_He could never tell the brunet that he smelled really good. That sounded sort of creepy. Even if the brunet himself jumped and smelled his own bed that one time in high school. _

_..._

_It was lonely and a week was almost up. Was it normal to fantasize your lover in the shower with you? _

_..._

_"Oy, Yokozawa!" He could practically hear his friend's cringe at his loud voice. Finally, he managed to catch him on the phone._

_"What?! Ri-" _

_"I passed them!" _

_"The exams?! That's great! L-" _

_"I want to tell Ritsu. Let me talk to him. It's been a week." _

_"..." _

_"...? What?" _

_"Can you wait one more month-" _

_"Damn it! Let me talk to Ritsu!" _

_"I can't! I-" He heard faint rapid beeping, as if Takafumi was outside of a room. "What's wrong?!" he hears Takafumi ask. _

_"He's having a seizure! We need a doctor to Ritsu, stat!" He hears another voice, a woman. "Please take your phone call outside!" _

_He_ _hears Takafumi curse, "Sorry, Masamune. You're going to have to call-"_

_"I HEARD THEM SAY RITSU!" He lowered his voice as a neighbor knocked from the wall, "Where's Ritsu?!"_

* * *

_He stared numbly ahead in the elevator of the hospital. _

_What was he going to see? _

_What happened to Ritsu? _

_"Masamune..." Takafumi greeted him, not letting him into the room. 'Wait, I went into the room, no one out in the hallway to talk to me...' _

_"Is Ritsu-" _

_"I'm sorry." Suddenly, Masamune realizes that Takafumi was wearing black. 'What? He wasn't wearing that when this-' _

_He looked down at himself, staggering back as he saw that he was wearing black. 'No...'_

_"The funeral is-" _

"NO!" Masamune shouts, "It didn't end like that!" his hands scrambling about. "It didn't..."

Ritsu woke, trying to blink through his currently bleary vision as Masamune began holding him tighter and pecking kisses over his face. "Mmm... morning?" he says, a little confused since he sees that it's still dark.

"Ritsu," Masamune sighs in relief, eventually placing his head in the crook of Ritsu's neck, snuggling in and relaxing.

_'Did something happen?'_ wondered Ritsu before he fell back asleep again, more sleepy than awake.

* * *

"Aurgh..."

"What's with all the groaning?"

Masamune glared at Shin, who waltzed in uninvited with his questioning. "Get out."

"Frustrated? With phone in hand?" Shin smiled. "Finally calling the friend and family?"

"Yeah," he answers reluctantly. "Yokozawa said his case should end by tomorrow morning so he'll be coming, but he already found out about it some days ago."

"So now's the family! What are you waiting for?"

...

An set down the cookies as her fiancé poured the tea, smiling as he smiled at her. For her father's sake he cut his dark hair enough that he couldn't tie it. Silly enough as it was, her father begged it to be done because he read an omen and had an unfortunate case of bad luck one day.

He was okay with it of course, wanting to cease his future father-in-law's superstitious worries. However, with his future mother-in-law...

"Please don't worry about Mom," An says to him as they sit and eat. "Again, for the many times I told you not to worry."

"Was she like this with Masamune?"

She nods. "Yeah, well..." She pauses in thought. "She... She was..." After a long painful silence, she pats his hand. "She'll come to like you two eventually."

"The silent treatment is so harsh though."

An sips her tea. "It'll be okay," she smiles. "Daddy likes you, so that's good."

"Your father is a very nice person," he sighs. "So nice."

"Saved you from the glaring at that one party?"

"Yep." Hearing the phone ring, An goes to pick it up.

"Hello?"

"An?"

She widens her eyes, glancing at her lover before putting it on speaker. "Yes? Did something happen to Ritsu, Masamune?"

"He's awake."

"He is?!" Her fiancé says excitedly, beaming. "That's great! How long has he been awake? Since this morning?"

"...Almost a week now."

"..."

"..."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US?!" An and him yelled into the phone, stunned by the revelation.

They heard groaning from the other line before Masamune continues. "Come visit him tomorrow around the afternoon. Yokozawa's going to be there also. And..." he pauses. "Tell your parents for me."

"Okay!" An answers. "They'll be so happy!"

"Oy, Kazuto," Masamune begins.

"Yes?"

"Is... Is she talking to you yet?"

"..."

"..."

He goes off dramatically to the side. "No! She hates us!"

"She doesn't hate you two!" An huffs. "It'll just take some time."

"Masamune and Ritsu have been together since high school and she hasn't cracked once! How long will it be for us?!"

"Until she dies," Masamune says.

"That's mean!" An scolds, "She wouldn't... I mean," she frowns now, uncertain. "Sh-she wouldn't, would she?"

"So you have doubts."

"Of course I have doubts, Masamune!" she pouts. "I want all of us to work out, but Mom..."

"I, what?" A curious voice asks, and An and Kazuto look in shock to see the woman just now coming in. She was out gardening.

"..." They just stare at her wide-eyed, and the phone line goes dead immediately.

* * *

I was confident.

I can do it.

"Are you sure?" Eru asks me, looking worried.

"Yes!" I say, looking up at the time. "I'm getting better." Just one dinner this once.

"Eh... If you feel okay enough," she says to me, and begins walking out of the room. "I'll go tell him."

...

Okay, nevermind... Nevermind! Once I saw that smile accompanied with that spoon my confidence was thrown out the window.

Why does he look so happy to feed me?! Does he not realize how much this effects me?!

Once the spoon went in my mouth I didn't let go; not until I made sure it wouldn't come out on the side.

"Ritsu," he chuckles, the sound making me nervous, "Let go."

I gulp, and slowly, I pulled back; I felt nothing on my chin or anything! I did it!

"Eru said you're eating from more than three jars right?" I nod. "That's great. Soon you'll be eating solids and that'll really help your stomach get back to its normal size."

Eating real food again... I sort of forgot what it tasted like. More flavorful than what I was eating I suppose.

When he fed me again it was okay; I'm getting the hang of it again. Then the next step is being able to hold the spoon to feed myself.

"Did you eat already?" I ask after a spoonful.

"Yes. Just something from the cafeteria."

"Oh," I say, and he feeds me again.

"Is there anything in particular you want to eat when you get better?"

Hmm... "Nothing in particular... I think just being able to eat again is enough. But, mochi sounds nice."

"The ones your family make on New Years?"

"Yeah... Oh!" I remember his birthday. "I, I don't know how I'll make it up, but what did you want for your birthday? Christmas? Valentines?" Man, I have a lot to make up when I move properly again.

"...For you to wake up." Oh.

It's quiet after this, and I don't really know what to say. "Um... I-"

"You don't have to make anything up for me. Just let me do everything."

"What? No way! I-" he puts the spoon in my mouth. Swallowing, I talk again. "That's not fair!"

"What's wrong with letting me do things for you? You've done a lot for me."

I frown, confused. "No I haven't. Not enough." And it was true.

I can cook, but I wasn't as good as him. The least I can do for him is wash the dishes and keep the kitchen clean for him.

I can try and converse with him about books and such, but him and Takafumi have a lot more in common and plenty of things to talk about.

I can clean, but I can never reach the high places and sometimes I mix the colors in the laundry. He doesn't know how much pink and teal or other strangely colored underwear I have thrown away.

"Not enough," I repeat, taking in a spoonful when he fed it to me.

"Sometimes," he says to me after a while, "I wonder what you see compared to what I see." What does he mean by that? He feds me again. "Do you not expect me to do anything for you?"

Slowly, I nod my head. That was right, right? Hmm... I slowly shake my head now, unsure. I mean, I'll ask if I want something, but there isn't anything I want at the moment you know? It's not like I expect him to be all lovey-dovey or anything like that. If I need anything I'll ask, or do it myself.

If it's something I expect from him, I guess, is that he love me back. And he does, so everything's fine. Now, I just want to get better.

* * *

**There are those moments where you get dream flashbacks but at the end it ends up totally wrong to a nightmare and *shudders* **


	9. Chapter 9

The sky was a faint blue when Ritsu woke, the light illuminating the room in a pale glow. He couldn't sleep now. Smiling, he turned his head to look over at Masamune.

_'They're going to come visit today!'_ He thought happily, thinking of their family and friends. Remembering that he was wearing just a patient's gown, he wondered if he could wear regular clothes for today.

_'It must be really early,'_ Ritsu gathered, hearing quiet all around him apart from Masamune's soft breathing. Without shaking, he managed to raise his hands up from the side to grip lightly on Masamune's chest. Despite being only halfway up, he was doing really well getting better.

He remembered some things Shin had told him; that if he hadn't gotten into a coma, he would have healed in about 1 or 2 months from the accident. Suddenly though, back then, he received horrible seizures due to the trauma. Shin had told him that he had woken some four times then to scream his head off and reject anybody touching him before immediately knocking out.

Sighing, he leaned closer to Masamune. He didn't want to think about that now. Focusing his attention on Masamune, Ritsu gazed at him. Slowly, his eyes wandered down to parted lips, blushing at a sudden thought.

_'H-he's really asleep... So it would be okay, right? Right?'_ Swallowing hard, he moved his shoulder to and fro to shuffle closer to Masamune. Craning his head up slightly and forward, he softly planted a kiss to his husband's lips. Quickly, Ritsu shuffled back in place, looking away and biting his lips in embarrassment.

And before he thought that he got away with it, Ritsu was grabbed and held against Masamune's chest. "If you wanted me to kiss you, you could have just asked."

"W-w-were you up the wh-whole time...?!"

"...You know you still have your hands on my chest, right?"

"O-oh..." He was reluctant to pull away at the revelation. "It... It doesn't hurt does it?"

Masamune hugged him tight, "Almost. Which is a good thing, by the way," he plants a kiss on Ritsu's head, "You're getting stronger."

Ritsu couldn't help but feel a little bubbly at the sort of praise that was said to him. His rapid pacing heartbeat refused to die down, however, and he leaned against the broad chest, smiling at the heartbeat that almost about matched his.

* * *

"Ready?" An whispers excitedly to her mother and Kazuto. Her father had work that couldn't be avoided, but he sent his best. Kazuto grins while she notices, with a small pout, her mother simply staring ahead expressionlessly. "Mom..." With a reassuring pat to her arm, Kazuto pulls her a little back to talk to her more privately.

"Don't worry about her too much. I think this is her way to cope."

"With what? Rittie's awake! We even got to talk to him a little bit during breakfast..."

"I know, but..." Kazuto glances worriedly ahead. "Your father said she all she could do last night was stare at old photos and polishing one of her necklaces."

"...I see," An says quietly, eyes downcast, before latching on to his arm as they continued ahead.

...

"Mom! An!" Ritsu calls out happily, his hands shaking in anticipation. Masamune chuckles at his side, patting his hands down to calm Ritsu's shaking.

"Rittie!" An squeals, throwing herself forward before pausing abruptly in caution to see if it was okay to hug him. "Can I..?"

"Go silly," Masamune says, and she squeals again, hugging Ritsu.

"Too... tight...!" Ritsu gasped some seconds later, weakly patting on anything he could.

"Ah, sorry!" She pulls away, and they laugh a little before she remembers Kazuto, and pulls him up to Ritsu. "Rittie, this is Kazuto."

"A-ah..." Kazuto looks down nervously as Ritsu looks at him. Eventually, Ritsu smiles at him. "Nice to meet you, Ka-"

Kazuto then squeezes him in a hug, "I'll be the best big brother ever!"

"O-okay?" Ritsu says, in confusion at the abrupt hug since Kazuto was so happy Ritsu talked to him. As Kazuto pulled away, he asks, "So when's the wedding?" He was a little caught up since morning.

"When you get better of course! Silly," An and Kazuto smile at him, "It's sort of your wedding celebration too, you know." She huffs a little. "And don't let my wedding dreams get crushed in the dust."

"We already got married in the technical sense like you too," Kazuto says, chuckling, "But she wants us officially announced to everybody at the wedding so I'm still her fiancé."

"I can't wait to show you the dress, Rittie! It's everything I ever dreamed of!" She gushes, looking into her purse to look for her phone.

As he waits, he sees his mother near the window sitting on a chair looking over at him silently. "Mom?"

For a split second, he saw it: the worry, the pain, and the happiness. it was different now though, Ritsu noticed; she was still as a painting of a queen. _'What's wrong?'_ Ritsu wondered, holding out his arms as high and as far as he can.

"Mom?" he calls out, his hands still outstretched a little awkwardly.

She still continued to stare back at him without another movement, and it worried him. It seemed too familiar, but from where? Where...

And it came to him.

_7 year old Ritsu looked down at the casket being buried, biting his lip as he watched little by little as dirt was being piled on top. "Daddy..." he whispers, sniffing as he remembered how happy his father looked before leaving for the airport. He didn't want him to go, and his mother kept saying it 'was good for the company', so why not? _

_"You're going to be back soon, right?" he remembered himself asking. _

_His father patted him on the head and smiled at him reassuringly. "Of course. Remember to take care of your mother for me while I'm gone." _

_"Okay!"_

_Ritsu sniffs again, remembering when they heard of the car accident back in England. He watched as his mother broke down after sending their relatives away, hiding herself in the bedroom. He wanted to go in and comfort her but she wouldn't answer his knocks and he knew it was rude to go in without expressed permission. He cried himself that night on his own bed with his mother joining him later in the night._

_When he looks up to search her out, he found her sitting where she sat earlier at the beginning of the service, staring at the building mound. _

_'She looks like a sad princess...' Ritsu couldn't help but think, remembering the stories his father read to him. He wanted to cheer her up, but how? He remembered An's father, who never remarried after An was born. While he looked happy, Ritsu was sure the man got sad once in a while. _

_His father told him how people try to seem like their okay when their not. A façade. Is that what was happening with his mother? _

_Hearing a cough, he sees his mother hiding her mouth with a hand, and he could see the tears wanting to come out. He couldn't say everything was going to be okay, but he wanted to do something. _

_'Remember to take care of your mother while I'm gone.' _

_'How do I do that, Daddy?' Ritsu thought, at a loss as he remembered his father's words. He wanted to cry too, again and again until it all came out. He paused. Maybe that's what his mother wanted as well. Running to her, he hugs her at her side since she was sitting. _

_"R-ritsu?" His mother says, startled as she came out of her small trance. _

_"L-let's cry together..." Ritsu says, looking up at her. "Please?" he adds, remembering to be polite. She seems confused for a moment, and realizing what he was trying to do, she smiled sadly at him before hugging him back silently._

"Mom..." Ritsu says again, concerned for her.

She seems to stir a bit, and he sighs. "MOM!" he shouts. She visibly is startled, and they locked eyes for a moment.

"Ritsu," she simply says, getting up a little unsteadily before heading towards him.

"Mom, are you alright?" An asks, her hands ready to keep her steadily up.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she breathes, giving a tired smile before going to hug Ritsu. After seconds of she pats his shoulders and arms gently, ignoring Masamune and Kazuto's presences. "Are you eating?"

"Yes," Ritsu answers, patting her hand, "Everyone has been taking care of me, especially Masamune."

"..." After a long wait for an answer, she gives a small nod with no further acknowledgement.

Frowning, Ritsu goes to grip her hand with one of his. "Are you really against Masamune and I together?"

"It's... It's not that." She looks everywhere else in the room that wasn't Masamune and Kazuto. Ritsu notices that.

"Even Kazuto too? An doesn't like just anyone you know."

An blushes. "R-rittie! I would say the same for you too!"

Giving a huff, their mother changed the subject. "Where is Dr. Haitani? I want to talk to him about something."

"Took his lunch break and is in his office," Masamune answers, and she departs quickly. Scoffing, he takes his eyes away from the door. "That is as far as acknowledgement I have ever received," he says, referring to the fact that she chose not to ignore him completely and made use of his information regarding Shin.

"Lucky..." Kazuto mumbles.

"Sorry we're late!" They look to see Takafumi, Henmi, and a newcomer younger than the both of them. Henmi continues, smiling at Ritsu. "You remember me, right?"

"Henmi," Ritsu answers, remembering the man around his age that was a kouhai to Takafumi for a while.

"Right!" He presents some bouquet of flowers. "I wanted to buy you snacks, but Yokozawa said you can't eat yet, so..."

"It's fine. Thank you!" Ritsu smiled.

"Are you from that village about two hours away?" Kazuto asks the newcomer, regarding him by his clothing that consisted of a dark green casual kimono wear.

"Y-yes..." he bows, "It's nice to meet you!" His dark, olive green eyes swept around the room before they locked with Ritsu's. "...!"

"...? What is it?" Ritsu asks, his brows furrowed close in confusion.

"Noth... Nothing," he bows, his brown locks bouncing as he did so. "I'm Takahashi Misaki. It's nice to meet you!"

"Oh," Ritsu looks from Masamune to Takafumi. "He was your client right?"

"Ah, yeah," Takafumi replies. "He'll be staying with me."

"Really?"

As if remembering something, Misaki goes to in front of Ritsu. "Your body is healing properly?!"

"Y-yes," Ritsu stutters out a bit, startled by Misaki's abruptness.

"I'll help you! Training should get you ready in about two months if we get into a good pace! You'll be walking in no time!"

"E-e-excuse me?"

"I remember reading something about that!" Kazuto pitches in. "I'm guessing you worked at the village clinic?"

Misaki pushes some of his sleeve back on one arm, happy to explain. "I also worked as a mentor for a while too! Patrol on weekends, cooking class instructor, getting water, nurse, mail carrier, hiking, running-"

"I think he gets it, Misaki," Takafumi interjects, patting him on the head giving Masamune a worried look, and Masamune wondered what was with him.

"Do you really think Rittie can walk in two months?" An asks, a little skeptical.

Misaki nods. "Not just that. Mr. Takafumi told me most of Mr. Ritsu's injuries healed a while back so it's just that his muscles aren't properly being exercised. Well," he hesitates a bit, "Maybe three months, depending."

"I don't know..." Ritsu says. He really did want to get his strength back. What about here though? With Eru, she let him take breaks when he wanted and when he didn't even break a sweat yet. _'Geez...'_ Ritsu thought for a bit, _'Like that, I'm almost spoiled, aren't I? And a little too weak.'_

Ritsu looks at him with a smile. "You won't go easy on me?"

Misaki seemed confused for a moment, wondering why he was smiling before he smiled himself. "Nope!"

"Okay then! Thank you for taking me in."

"Oy," Takafumi looks between them. "Think about this, you two." He goes unheard so he looks at Masamune. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

Masamune simply watched on as the two energetically talked with An, Henmi, and Kazuto. "It's been long while since I've seen him so determined for something. He made a new friend too." He smiles. "Seeing him lively like this makes me happy." He watches Takafumi butts into their conversation to give his concerns, watching as everybody else tries to make good points in why they should go ahead with their plan.

* * *

**There it is! The 'end' of Case 1 in the timeline for Takafumi's story and Misaki and Ritsu meeting! By the way, it's August-September in here, where in the original Ritsu and Masamune meet around this time again after 10 years, I think. And Misaki is 19.**

**Next chapter begins in technically Case 2, months later. Ritsu goes home and more! This isn't ending anytime soon! **

**Oh, and plus, Shin and Eru will be reappearing. Takafumi's such a worrywart in here XD **


	10. Chapter 10

_'The leaves are changing colors,' _Ritsu thought, looking outside the window. _'It's cold out there..._'

"Ritsu." He glances back to the figure on the bed that everybody called his own for 3 years.

"I'm over here," he replies, faintly blushing as he met eyes with a waking Masamune. He could never get quite used to having eye contact with him without having his heart beat fast.

As soon as he went back to looking out the window he felt arms around him. "Ready to go?"

Ritsu nods, gasping in surprise when he felt lips brushing against his ear. "Masamune!"

"What?" Masamune whispers, feigning ignorance. He softly gave a peck to that ear before nuzzling from the side of Ritsu's neck up to the back of his head, then giving a kiss there. "Let's get you changed." Some weeks back while Ritsu was busy with Misaki, Masamune had taken the opportunity with Takafumi to go buy Ritsu and him new warmer clothes to add to their closet.

"Isn't this a little too much?" Ritsu asked after he managed to add on the dark brown coat to his thick white sweater. "It can't be that cold outside."

"Can't be too sure," his lover replied, now wrapping a lovely knitted green scarf around his neck up to his mouth. "I don't want you to get sick."

"I don't want to get sick either, but this..." he looks at what Masamune is wearing. "What about you?"

"This?" He referred to his thin black coat over a gray V-neck sweater. "I'm warm enough."

Masamune had already handled everything the night before so here they were, up dressed and ready to leave.

"It's kind of strange," Ritsu says as they near the door. "Like I'm leaving my room for my room."

"A room you hopefully won't come back to," Masamune says, tugging Ritsu's scarf lightly. "Never again."

"Hmm..." Ritsu looks around the room one last time, a little sad at the thought; he agreed with Masamune though. "Never again," he repeats.

* * *

"Wow! They changed the screens! And over there! They added more shelves!" Ritsu says, barely trying to contain his excitement for the new additions and updates. He wanted to get closer, but hand pulled him back. Pouting, he turned to Masamune. "Can't I just get a closer look?"

Masamune held on securely to his hand. "I lost you immediately after we left the hospital for six minutes and almost had a heart attack. Let's go home."

"But-"

"_Home._" Sighing, Ritsu nods, letting himself being lead home. After minutes of silence, he looked up upon hearing Masamune sigh. "We'll look around tomorrow all you want okay? After we get situated."

"Okay."

Another round of silence. "Are you mad at me?"

Ritsu looked back at him in confusion. "No, I'm not. Why?"

"You're quiet."

He blinks. "I have nothing to say." He really didn't. On the other hand though, Ritsu gathered some other thoughts. "Wasn't it always like this?" From what he remembered, they didn't really talk when they walked home together. Quiet was nice, he had supposed, from Masamune's not wanting to converse.

Masamune didn't answer him, so Ritsu left it at that, becoming still when he realized where they were walking across the crosswalk to. Both of them did not notice their now unlinked hands.

_The ring._

His ring.

_'The ring,'_ Ritsu began glancing everywhere on the ground. _'Where is it?'_ He didn't realize most of everyone was on the other side already. On his knees now, he began looking, focused on the ground more than anything else.

* * *

_"Wasn't it always like this?"_

_'Was it?'_ Masamune thought continuously. He felt his hands gripping in and out. _'Was it?'_

Admittedly, he didn't really remember much of back then; he preferred to forget it all after that bout with his parents and all that crap. And no matter how many times he tried to remember moments with Ritsu, he couldn't really remember that much.

The fact that that memory with his parents was so horrible enough for him to let go of everything else that mattered...

It made him sick.

Also, Ritsu was seemingly so used to his other self, the other self that changed for the best. It wasn't like Ritsu was trying to hide it, but Masamune could see that whenever he became affectionate that Ritsu wasn't really used to it yet. Even now as Masamune linked their hands Ritsu wasn't used to it; the male obviously wanted to wander around without a care.

With this tight leash on Ritsu he maintained, he wanted to hold on to it forever, reasoning to himself that everything will be safer for Ritsu that way.

That's not it though- well, at least most of it is not. Obviously he wanted Ritsu all to himself. No family, no friends, no anyone. Just them in their own little world.

It's not possible though. For a little while maybe, but not all the time.

Masamune began to sulk. _'How can I get more closer to him? How can I let him know that I really love him?'_

His thoughts paused as someone bumped next to him, and he glanced to see more people walking past him.

"Ritsu," Masamune began, realizing they weren't holding hands and turning, "Let's-"

No Ritsu.

Immediately he became alarmed, looking around everywhere but finding no sign of his brunet. So much for that tight leash. "Ritsu?!" He calls out again. "Ritsu?!"

Looking behind him back to that street, he widens his eyes as it rested on Ritsu in the middle of it, on all fours as he looked around furiously. "Ritsu?!" Cursing as the male didn't hear him, Masamune tried getting out there, pushing past the other bystanders.

Once he reached the curb he rushed forward, pulling up the male and back. Holding on securely, Masamune muttered out apologies to everyone he passed by with Ritsu, who still seemed to be in a daze. Reaching a bench, he sat Ritsu and him down, holding the man's face with his hands. "Ritsu?" He ignored the passing onlookers as he examined Ritsu's face for any kind of injury.

Ritsu blinks for moment in confusion before his facial expression became saddened. "I couldn't find it..."

He didn't realize the ring thing bothered Ritsu more than he thought. "Ritsu..."

His love's attention was downcast, focusing on something; Masamune looked to see that it was his ring still on Ritsu's thumb.

"It's not the same," Ritsu whispered. "It's not mine."

"I'll get you a new one," he found himself whispering back, one of his thumbs caressing Ritsu's cheek.

"It's not the same. It won't go with yours."

Masamune didn't know what to say to that. He lifted a hand to brush away part of Ritsu's bangs as he tried to think of a solution to this.

"I... I'll get a new ring, with yours. How about that?" he asked, hoping it would please him.

"But," Ritsu finally looks up at him. "It's not... I won't be-"

"The same. I know." Taking his hands off Ritsu's face he took his ring of Ritsu.

His ring.

He held it, flexing his hand to re-feel that silver, warm from Ritsu's hand.

Without its match, it must feel as lonely as he was at that time when he couldn't see Ritsu for a week. For years though, unlike him, it continued alone... suffering. He breathed in and out, decided on his next course of action.

With a quick reflex, he threw the ring towards the crosswalk.

"! Masamune?!" Ritsu exclaims in shock, looking in the direction to the crosswalk.

"They'll find each other again," he says simply, bringing them up so they can walk home. He takes a deep breath and lets it out, a little bothered about losing one of the things that symbolized their bond. Yet, it brought some calm to him, feeling like he had released a weight he didn't know he was holding.

"Masamune..." he looked down at his Ritsu, who still was saddened, but for a different reason though. "You... you didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to." He brought together their ring-less hands and smiled softly. "You don't have to worry about them anymore. What is it that they say? Out with the old and in with the new."

Ritsu paused in thought at that, and reluctantly he nodded, himself giving a small smile as Masamune gave his hands a small kiss.

"Maybe we can go with gold this time, and I'll add even more on the inside. Or do you want the same thing?" Masamune wondered aloud, his mind churning with ideas.

"U-um..." Ritsu bit on his lip gently in thought. "I don't know..."

"We'll go look tomorrow again when we look around then," Masamune says, editing tomorrow's plans as he went. Tugging gently at first, he grasps one of Ritsu's hands and pulls along. "Let's go home."

Smiling, Ritsu walked up along to be beside him instead of the former and began to match his pace, their hands gently swinging to and fro. "Okay."

* * *

**Happy April Fools! I said he'll go home this chapter but they didn't even make it home yet! How about that for a April Fools?! XD **

**THIS COUNTS AS AN ACTUAL CHAPTER. It is not an April Fools chapter in a literal sense. I was going to type more for this but I had to go to sleep, hence the lame April Fools attempt. **

**Ironically, those rings will play a role this case :D And they will be together again.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Everyone, the last chapter counted as a chapter; it was not a April Fools on purpose kind of thing, just to be sure. I mostly just wanted an excuse to say 'Happy April Fools' to you guys.**

* * *

**To tarepandabear: **

**You'll see more of that with the mother soon. **

**I also believe that there could be too much angst. I also believe that I don't know what the heck I'm saying because I can't really tell how much angst I put into the story. I just want happy times to happen and I haven't really seen 'happy fics' lately... or fics in the sense of romantic comedy.  
**

**Also guys, keep in mind it's around towards the end of November in here. From August-September Ritsu has been working hard with Misaki and he can walk and jog. He can't really run that much yet let alone jog for a whole mile. He's almost there though!**

**He can eat soups now like rice porridge and other soft things. For his strength I'd gather that maybe he can't carry mid-heavy pots and pans with a single hand but with both his hands it's alright. He basically can't life anything past about 17 pounds. He really is almost there. Maybe.**

* * *

Ritsu ran his hands over the numbers outside their apartment. _'Home...'_

"Will you do the honors?" He turned back to Masamune, who handed the keys to him.

"O-okay," he stutters slightly, excited. His fingers shook, the keys jingling as it struggled to go into the key hole. Chuckling, Masamune used a hand to calm Ritsu's hand; together they opened the door.

Giving a quick gasp as he took his first steps in, Ritsu headed in straight-on, forgetting to take off his shoes-

And forgetting that they were still in the genkan. With a thud and a yelp he fell, and Masamune rushed forward to help him up. "Are you alright?!"

"Yeah..." Ritsu groans a little, trying to ease his slight pain as he sits up. "I forgot there was a..." He sighs. Hearing a laugh he curiously looked to Masamune, taking in the laughter and finding it pleasant to hear. However, he huffed a little and blushed, humiliated. "It's not that funny!"

He felt Masamune kiss his head. "Sorry," Masamune says, smiling as he helped him up. After Ritsu manages to take off his shoes he walked carefully, gazing around the living space. "Wow! So Takafumi kept it clean all this time?"

"Yeah. He also..." he trails off, remembering the blood-stained sheets. He glances over at Ritsu, the latter looking through the two bookshelves next to each other.

"He even dusted in between the books," Ritsu says in awe, before he turned to Masamune. "Oh yeah, how's Sorata? I forgot to ask Takafumi."

"Oh, he's good," Masamune says absentmindedly, hoping Ritsu wouldn't go into the bedroom yet. "Spoiled as hell though, from what I heard. Yokozawa's trying to put him on a diet and he's not liking it."

"It's hard to believe he's older now," Ritsu says, saddened for a moment; the black and white cat probably had forgotten him by now. He goes to sit on the couch and bounces a little.

"Are you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, why?" Ritsu asks, glancing about. "Now that I think about in, I've stayed in the hospital more than I lived here. Weird huh?"

Masamune mumbled in agreement, but in his head, he found it unsettling. What if Ritsu ended up not wanting to live with him and go back to his parents? He didn't want to be without Ritsu.

"Masamune..." he jolted out of his thoughts to see Ritsu laying on the couch in thought.

"What is it?"

"I know you said you were going to make dinner, but is there anyway I can help?"

"You don't have to help," he replies, sitting down at the other end of the couch with Ritsu's feet. "Finishing all your food would be nice though."

Ritsu gave a little laugh before quieting down. "I want to help. I don't like feeling useless..."

"You're not."

"..." Ritsu simply said nothing, and Masamune turned away for awhile, sure that the brunet didn't believe that. He went over to kiss his forehead before getting up.

"Just rest here while I start dinner so we can get a head start on getting a good night's sleep."

Hearing a hum in response, he looked to see Ritsu with his eyes closed, trying to nap. Sighing, he reluctantly walked off to the kitchen, re-stocked earlier by Takafumi and Misaki.

* * *

"I'll help." Masamune turned slightly from his dish-washing, worried as he watched Ritsu drying off a plate.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to get-"

"I'll be okay, really!" Ritsu stubbornly remained, proudly lifting his hand high to open a cupboard and placing the clean dish inside. "See?"

"You're slightly shaking."

"It's fine!"

Sighing, Masamune didn't argue back, choosing instead to glance over once in a while, smiling affectionately at the determination on his husband's face.

...

Wiping his hands of excess water, Masamune glanced around to see that Ritsu went off somewhere. Quickly he went to their bedroom, pausing when he saw Ritsu staring down at the bed, the blanket having been lifted and to the side to reveal the clean and new bed sheets. "Ritsu..."

"Did... did-"

"We threw them away."

"Why?!" He was surprised at the amount of anguish on his face that was for the sheets. "They were still good!" Lips quivering, Ritsu put the blanket back over and turned away, not wanting to look at it. "I should have looked up who made those sheets..."

"Ritsu, why didn't you tell me that I hurt you?"

"Wha-" Ritsu swallowed, trying to compose himself. "It wasn't your fault! I didn't want to bother you either so I just washed it the best I could. Since it was under the blanket anyway I thought it wouldn't matter. I was really surprised too when I saw it! I guess I was so tired that I didn't feel myself bleeding."

"Ritsu..."

"Really, don't worry about it. I'm okay." Ritsu tried to assure him. "I'm just upset about the sheets and-" He found himself being hugged tightly.

"Next time, tell me these things, okay?"

"But-" He was squeezed tighter, and he could hear Masamune sigh against his shoulder. "O-okay..." After a while, Masamune didn't budge. "Masamune?" Spacing himself away while holding on to the older male, he found the male dozing off, tired. Carefully, he set him down on the bed, after some struggle, and proceeded to get a towel and head into their room bathroom next to the closet in front of their bed.

He was sure enough that he could take a shower on his own after he reacquainted himself with the bathroom.

* * *

"Mm?" Blinking, Masamune woke up to the sound of water being turned on. _'Ritsu?'_

Still laying in place, he could hear Ritsu walking about, mumbling to himself about something. Sitting up, he can see that Ritsu had let the door open, and steam was slowly floating out gradually.

What got to him however, was the sound of clothes being discarded to the ground. Ranging from light thuds to hearing a zipper being undone on a pair of jeans, Masamune found himself concentrating with his ears.

Every sound brought to him sensations he had been trying to keep away from to stay in control. Upon hearing a small, but lovely gasp, he swallowed, feeling the familiar heat rising up within him. Slowly, he inched towards the other side of the bed to see what was happening.

...

Ritsu gasped as he saw himself in the mirror more closely now that he was alone. He...

He wasn't showing his ribs no longer. It was almost noticeable when he turned but it was still good. He didn't look like skeleton and he could see that he was getting some color back.

Seeing his hair, he touched the ends closest to his ears. _'I should cut this a little...'_

His bangs didn't seem to want to go back to like it was in high school; he liked the change though, it made him look more mature in a way and it shielded him sometimes from particularly bright light.

He should still be gaining some weight though, he found some seconds later. Turning his body, he examined his hips and his upper thighs. Misaki told him earlier when they started the leg exercises that his muscles would ache for a while. Actually, they were still aching, but only a little to where it didn't bother him.

Taking off his underwear, he was surprised at the light, temporary indentions the rim of it made on his skin. It couldn't be that tight on him... He turned around to see on the mirror that the indentions went around to his back above his butt.

Eventually, he shrugs, knowing that it'll disappear later. Deciding that the shower was probably warm enough, and seeing that the hamper was close by, he bent down to pick up the rest of his clothes and put them in. Feeling a cold breeze he remembered that he left the door open and decided to go close it.

As he did so, however, he was startled to see Masamune sitting up on the bed, staring at him openly and gaping slightly. "..."

Ritsu didn't miss the hand that was in his pants.

"...u-uh," Flushing his way to red upon realizing what was happening, Ritsu shut his eyes while he closed the door hard. Embarrassed, he retreated to the shower.

* * *

A hesitant Ritsu peeked out the door, glancing left to right before walking out and to the closet. A towel around his waist, he grabbed his underwear and swiftly put it on before putting on his pajamas. Successful at his endeavor, he jumped onto the bed with towel in hand. Sitting up, he began drying his hair.

"You done?" He hears Masamune ask him from outside the room. It didn't take long for Ritsu to blush.

"Y-yes..."

While he looked at Masamune, the other didn't look back at him, heading to the closet to get ready for a shower. As such, Ritsu tried to not seem bothered as well, going back to drying his hair. However, after glancing a couple of times, Ritsu paused to notice a faint pink color on Masamune's cheeks before he went into the bathroom. "..." _'He's...'_

_'He's blushing...'_

...

It was about six minutes long that Masamune took his shower; seeing him walk out fully clothed with a towel on his head. "I-I'll dry it," Ritsu says, wanting to, heart thudding as Masamune climbed onto the bed to get to his lap. Ritsu was already situated, sitting up with the blanket over his waist.

When dry enough, he ran his hands through the dark locks. _'It's soft...'_

"Don't stop," Masamune murmurs repeatedly every time Ritsu paused in movement. Minutes later he joined Ritsu under the covers after he turned off the light.

"Excited for tomorrow?" he asks Ritsu, hugging the male close to him.

"Yeah..." Ritsu answers quietly. He yawns, prompting a light chuckle from his love.

"Good night."

"Good night," Ritsu whispers, faintly feeling a feathery touch to his cheek before falling asleep.

* * *

**Imagine, having such soft sheets that make you melt in bed... **

**and then someone throws them away... *shakes head* Some things are just unforgettable. **

**Oh, and I was never in that type of situation with bed sheets. Imagine though, very soft sheets that make you melt in bed and sleep soundly. You just couldn't let go of such sheets, especially if you won them at a store and didn't pay an expensive price for them.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Team Ladder or Stepladder? Hm...**

* * *

_'Impressive...'_ Masamune couldn't help but think as Ritsu and him headed to the jewelry store, looking around along the way.

"Oh yeah," he starts, and Ritsu looks to him, "They finished that park some buildings away. I thought that once you can really move your legs you can finally learn how to ride a bike."

"Ride a bike?!" Ritsu repeats, a little ruffled and flushed, "W-why would I have to learn how to ride a bike?!"

They stopped their walking. "You..." Masamune regards him with concern. "You don't remember?"

"Remember what?" Ritsu asks, wondering what Masamune was referring to.

"It was a little before my graduation, when Yokozawa and his parents let me stay with them so I didn't have to move with my mother?" Ritsu listens thoughtfully, trying to remember. "And Yokozawa was talking about using a bike more than a car and you said you didn't know how and...?"

"Oh..." Ritsu puts his hand to his chin, remembering before he looked up at Masamune in disbelief. "You were serious?! I thought you were joking!"

"Why would I..." he trails off, troubled. "What other times did you think I was joking?"

"...?" Ritsu began thinking for a long moment. "Hmm..." Slowly, a dawning expression filled his face before a baffled one took over. "..."

"What?" Masamune asks, even more troubled now seeing the look on Ritsu's face.

"W-would you say- um, that there could be times that you were actually joking with me, and you weren't serious but I took it seriously?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"A-ah..." Ritsu nervously laughs, "So..." he coughs and tries to walk off fast. "We should also go to the jewelry store before it closes, huh?"

Masamune tightens the grip on his hand and pulls him back. "We have time."

"I-I-I-it's nothing, really, aha," he tries to pull Masamune along. "Let's just go!" Instead, he is pulled the opposite direction, back to where they had walked from.

"I think I remembered a bench back there. You shouldn't be standing for so long."

Sighing in defeat, Ritsu followed along.

* * *

"You didn't really like the thought of marriage," Ritsu begins, "You sort of laughed at me when I asked you." Before Masamune could say anything he continues, "So just in case, Takafumi helped me prepare for anything that could happen, like making sure our legal stuff don't get mixed up, our divorce papers ready and si-"

"_Divorce papers?_" Masamune interrupted in disbelief, feeling like he had been stung. "You have divorce papers ready?"

Ritsu nods, strangely feeling proud for the fact that he was prepared and mistaking Masamune's disbelief for being impressed, "Signed and everything. I also-" He remembers suddenly, "Most of all my stuff is at my family's house. That's why it seems like I don't have much clothes or anything," he pauses, "I wonder if I still fit my clothes at home..."

"Wait, you mean signed and everything meaning as in my signature too?"

"Yeah." Ritsu nods again in affirmation. "You were busy when I brought it to you so I left it on your desk in your office room. You signed it the next night and I put it up in a safe place."

The dark-haired husband frowned, not believing that he was sound of mind when he signed it, but continued with the last words he heard. "A safe place?"

"Yes, although, I sort of forgot where... Oh," Ritsu looks at him in question. "When did we get married? I can't remember the date, do you?"

Masamune was going to answer him before he realized too that he couldn't remember. "No, no I don't. Where is the document for that?"

"I... don't know. I think it's in the safe place I put the divorce papers in."

He chuckles dryly. "Safe place, huh?"

"And the joking thing," Ritsu explains, "Whenever we talk and it seems serious, and then you laugh, I think you're joking. But you weren't half the time, right?"

"Probably," Masamune answers, before going back to the topic of the divorce papers. "So you don't really remember where the divorce papers are?"

"I really don't. Why?"

"Don't you want to find them and throw them away?"

Ritsu blinks at the notion. "Why would you want to throw them away?"

"Because we aren't going to get a divorce," Masamune answers obviously, "Why would you want to keep them?"

"I don't know. Just in case maybe."

"Just in case what?"

"I don't really know what... A-Also, Takafumi might have gotten me the papers, but for me it took two days to fill it out and I don't want to throw away good effort."

"Then when we find it you can just write the info on a note pad and we can rid of the papers. Really," Masamune sighs, feeling tired and irritated at the topic. He would never want Ritsu to leave him. Never...

...

_'I annoyed him, didn't I?'_ Ritsu thought, seeing Masamune in silent thought with a face that didn't seem pleased at all. Shivering slightly of a passing chill, Ritsu got off the bench and paced a little; seeing that Masamune was still in his own world, Ritsu decides to look around.

_'I should go find a job, but where?'_ Ritsu wonders as he glances to each store within some feet, walking further away from the bench, _'The last job I had, I wonder how they're doing-'_ He accidently bumps until someone, a man a little taller than him and in a suit. "Oh, sorr-"

"Ah, perfect timing!"

"Huh-" he found himself next to a man about his height, a darker shade of brunet and with blue eyes. Compared to the suited man, he was just wearing jeans and a t-shirt hoodie.

"Watch him for me, I'll be right back!" Hearing a car door slam, he looks to see a dark car drive off in a hurry.

"H-huh?"

"Sorry about that..." the mystery person says, looking uncomfortable as he glanced around at the passing people. "There's someone important they need to pick up that I need to meet but I don't really feel well today and I almost threw up so here I am..."

"O-oh..." Ritsu glances back to see Masamune still out of it, and focuses back to the man. "What's your name?"

"Yoshino Chiaki," he replies, smiling a little. "Yours?"

"Onodera Ritsu. A-actually, my husband and I were supposed to get new rings in a few minutes..."

"H-husband?!" Chiaki looks very surprised. "You're married?!"

"...? Yeah. Why?" Ritsu asks hesitantly. Did he and Masamune not look right together?

"Well, you look younger than me, so I'm very surprised. I'm about 29."

Ritsu widens his eyes; this man seemed about his age- like a slightly older Misaki with different bangs. "Really?"

Chiaki couldn't help but feel a little giddy at the disbelief. "Yeah... Oh, you know," he begins, looking Ritsu up and down, "I think you could be a model if you wanted to."

"W-what?" Ritsu flushes slightly. "No way!"

"No, really!" Chiaki says, one of his hands up to touch one of Ritsu's cheeks. "You have a nice cheeks; can I draw you later?"

"F-for what?"

"I'm a mangaka actually," he says, smiling.

"Oh?" Ritsu remembers a title of one Misaki told him. "Like, 'The Kan'?"

He didn't expect Chiaki grabbing his hands excitedly. "You know about 'The Kan'?! Are you a fan too?!"

"I-I haven't really had a chance to read it actually, but my friend, he loves it a lot. He told me something about getting all 45 stamps and-"

"He was the grand prize winner for the deluxe figurine set?!"

"Y-yes..?"

"Wow," Chiaki beams, "I have to meet him. We can do exchanges! Does he have a phone number? What's his name?!"

"M-Misaki..." _'They could be brothers...'_ Ritsu thought, startled by the enthusiasm for the manga.

"Who are you?" He turns to see Masamune at his side, frowning at Chiaki. A little afraid and shy, Chiaki let go of Ritsu's hands.

"Y-yoshino Chiaki..." he answers, begging Ritsu with his eyes to continue for him.

"His boss left him here to pick up someone from the airport. H-he can come with us for a while, can he?" he asks Masamune, faltering under the look he was given that read, 'What about our alone time?'

"Yes, he can," Masamune reluctantly says, grabbing one of Ritsu's hands to pull him close. With that, they resume their trip to the jewelry store.

...

"Do you want it engraved now? It takes about two days." Ritsu glances from the jeweler to his hand, feeling the silver around his finger. He looks to Masamune, who nods, and reluctantly, he handed back the ring.

"What do you want to put on it, sir?"

Masamune was going to answer but instead grabbed one of the cards on the display table and wrote on it before handing it to the man. "Two days, right?"

"Yes sir..." The man trails off, reading what was written. With a poorly concealed grin he went off to put in the order.

Scoffing, Masamune glared a little; he was pretty sure that this was the guy from last time, just promoted. When he looked down at Ritsu his gaze softened, seeing that Ritsu was glaring off at the man too.

"What did you guys write?" asks Chiaki, holding a sketchbook with one hand and sketching hands and rings with the other. "Your initials or...?"

Not quite answering him with the actual quote, Masamune simply answers with, "We're each other's first love."

"Eeh, that's so cute!" Chiaki says, smiling. He made a note of it before saying. "My boss and his secretary are like that too!"

Hearing a knock on the window they look to see said boss gesturing him to hurry into the car, and Chiaki nods. With a wave to Ritsu he hurried out. "I hope we meet again!"

* * *

**This was the morning to afternoon! I'll finish evening and night later! Sorry for the lack of updates! **

**I have a speech to finish and a rogerian essay to type -_- **

**QUESTION: What month and day should their wedding be in? I haven't quite decided yet...**

**Chiaki might just be an important witness for this case, though, you wouldn't really see that in here because Ritsu and Masamune aren't completely involved with Takafumi's profession. Yet. Maybe.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello~ For anyone who wanted to know who hit Ritsu, it's in this chapter. **

* * *

"Everyone's busy huh?" Ritsu asks, looking up at the darkening sky. He wanted to see everyone again, for at least a little bit, seeing that he had just recently come out from the hospital. Of course he's glad to be out with Masamune, but he knew that they both missed out on a lot of things with their friends and family.

"Yeah, but," Masamune pauses to see the stores in sight, "Let's just focus on us. What are you feeling for dinner?"

"Oh um," Ritsu wracked his brain trying to remember the restaurants in the area. He didn't feel for anything in particular, he just wanted to eat... "What are you feeling like eating?"

"Me?" Masamune thought for a moment before pulling him along. "Italian sounds nice."

...

"Isn't this a little too private?" I ask Masamune. There was barely anyone back here in the booths, and this felt very much like a date- n-not like there was anything wrong with that! I mean, whenever we're alone is sort of a date that stretches longer and longer right?

"Nope." Once the waitress sets the bread down and leaves while we look at our menu, I take a breadstick to munch on.

"Is it good?" Masamune asks me, and I nod, holding the menu to look at it with my other hand. All of it sounds good, and the pictures are just as good in making me undecided about choosing something.

The ravioli looked nice, and had less than what the other dishes had from the pictures. I can't really eat a lot yet, so I guess I'll go with this one... I look up at Masamune, who was looking at his own menu. "What are you getting?"

"This three meat lasagna."

"Oh, okay."

"What do you want?"

"The ravioli from the second page."

"Alright."

As I look back to my menu, I couldn't help but feel strange; this silence felt so awkward... Should we be talking more? But I don't know what to talk about...

"You know," I stiffen a bit before looking up at him as he spoke to me. "You can tell me anything, ask me anything- just anything really."

Anything? But, I don't want to ask anything that might upset him. I have a lot of unanswered questions that I'm sure Takafumi can answer, so I can wait to ask him.

"Okay," I answer him, before distracting myself with another breadstick. It was like this at home wasn't it? Silence, and then I say something but he doesn't really answer me and the day just goes on. So I know it's better to just keep to myself. Wait, wait... but that was back then and it's different now. But... it sort of wears me out now, talking for too long.

Now that I think about it, I've never really talked to him about my father, and about when I was younger. I mean, he told me about his childhood, but my childhood... Maybe it was okay this way; he doesn't need to know. And I can always talk to An or Mom, so this... I don't need to bother him with this.

Maybe I can ask him one thing. Maybe two. They have been weighing in the corner of my mind.

"Back then, when I got hit, who was in the car? Are they okay?"

* * *

Of all the things he could ask him... Masamune stared back at the worried face of his husband, his husband who was wondering about the person who hit him.

Masamune almost felt sure that he wanted to talk about something else to him, but had he changed his mind? He really couldn't read him like he used to.

He had realized for a long while now that he didn't know Ritsu well enough. Was it because he didn't ask? He had told Ritsu mostly everything about him, but yet... it never, it never felt needed for him to know about Ritsu's childhood or anything. Did Ritsu feel the same way, so that's why it was never brought up?

The difference now was that he wanted to know. He wanted to know everything.

"Masamune?"

"Sorry," Masamune says, shaking out his thoughts. "The one who hit you?"

Ritsu nods, biting on his breadstick. Masamune held back the urge to take it from him, as he can see that the latter was using it to distract himself from talking, and it turn it was also distracting him with the way Ritsu was putting his lips on it and nibbling.

"I never got to see him. Yokozawa didn't either; we do know that it wasn't your fault though. The man was going so fast he went too far past the crosswalk where you were at to stop at the light. Yokozawa said it was one of those imported red sports cars.

"Really? So is he okay?"

"Of course. It was only you that was hurt. Actually, it was sort of lucky for you that he hit you."

Ritsu didn't hide his surprise. "What?! How?"

"He paid your whole hospital bill in advance; the only note I received from him that the hospital gave me that said to just save our money. We never got his name though."

"But, I got into a coma," Ritsu frowns, "So how...?"

"That's what I meant by your whole hospital bill; he put in a lot in advance. I think what was left over went back to him."

"That... that's very generous of him, whoever he is." Ritsu says, touched.

...

Masamune couldn't help a smile as he watched Ritsu eat his food. "Is it good?" Obviously delicious, Ritsu nods a little too enthusiastically, pausing to take a breath when his chest began to constrict at the sudden intake of food. Masamune went forward slightly, worried. "Take it easy, don't rush."

"Sorry," Ritsu coughs a little, eventually giving out a nervous laugh. "I didn't expect it to be so good."

"Well, it is different from hospital food and dinner at home." He offers Ritsu a piece of his lasagna. "Here, try mine." Curious, Ritsu accepted the piece, smiling at the taste of meatiness and the spices. "Good?" he nods.

In return Ritsu offers some ravioli, and Masamune nods at the taste. "That's good," and seeing the portions on Ritsu's plate he adds, "If you want more, say so, cause that doesn't look like enough."

"I can't really eat that much, so I thought this might be enough..."

"If it isn't, feel free to ask for more."

"Okay," Ritsu smiles again, taking another one into his mouth. Slyly, Masamune takes the opportunity to take out his cell phone to take pictures. The sight of Ritsu enjoying good restaurant food for a long time in awhile is something that must be recorded in some way. He wondered if Ritsu knew that he his cheeks were flushed lightly, happy with the food.

Putting up his cell phone he went back to eating his food, but stopped hearing a shutter click. He turned his head to see the waitress hastily putting up her cell phone, embarrassed at being caught.

"Delete it," Masamune ordered quietly, knowing she can hear him. Ritsu looks between them in question, not seeing that she was taking pictures and wondering what was wrong.

"B-but, you two are so cute! And him," she looks at Ritsu shyly, "You have nice cheekbones."

"T-thank you?" Ritsu replies, remembering what Chiaki had said to him. Were his cheekbones really that nice?

"Delete it," Masamune repeats, glaring.

She sighs in defeat. "Okay... Sorry."

* * *

"Home," Ritsu sighs, laying on the couch feeling sleepy.

After putting up the take-out in the refrigerator, Masamune bent slightly over the couch to ruffle Ritsu's head, chuckling. "Go take a shower before you knock out."

"Okay," getting up, Ritsu walked off to their room.

Once Masamune heard the bathroom door closing, he made his way to the room that doubled as a study/office. He was sure that the 'safe place' was this room. They had their documents in here along with his medical books. It was also one of the two rooms in their apartment that had a lock. The other one was their bedroom.

While his first two drawers in his desk held office supplies, the third one held the documents.

He needed to get rid of those divorce papers. While Ritsu didn't seem all that concerned, he was. It was so easy, so easy for Ritsu to leave him, especially when most of his belongings weren't even here. He knows Ritsu wouldn't leave him, but he couldn't help it.

He was scared. He had to get rid of them.

Not finding the papers with the rest of the documents, he roamed his eyes around the room. Finally, he caught a piece of paper sticking out from a folder sandwiched tight between two of his medical books.

Taking the folders he went back to his desk, plugging in his paper shredder ready to shred. But not before hastily taking out a memo pad and pen to record what Ritsu got down on the papers for him. And then, adding a touch of thoroughly slash of thick black marker over the papers, he put them in, watching in satisfaction and relief as they shredded with vigor.

* * *

"Masamune, look!" Ritsu calls out to him as the latter walks out of the bathroom, dressed and hair wet. He was presented with a clean, half-filled closet, and a suitcase packed and ready to go. "All of my stuff fits! I can take this all to laundry or switch them with the ones in my other closet."

"Oh, that's..." Masamune just couldn't smile, instead moving forward to take everything out. "Let's put everything back."

"I can do it myself," Ritsu says, pushing him to the bed so he can do it himself. "It's good exercise when I have to lift my arms high to hang the clothes."

Settled in bed, Masamune simply watched as Ritsu put it all back up, hoping that he wouldn't find it half-empty like that ever again. "Later, let's get all your stuff here."

"Are you sure?" Ritsu asks, uncertain. "I have just as much of books and it might get messy..."

"It's fine. It's good exercise in cleaning, wouldn't you say?"

He pats right beside him when Ritsu was done putting the clothes up, his hair dry and towel put up.

After turning off the lights and moving to the bed, Ritsu relaxes once he got under the covers, his body catching up in tiredness and ready to rest. His eyes drowsily began closing as he was pulled closer to his husband, who nestled comfortably against him. "Good night."

"Mm-hm," Ritsu hummed in response, faintly wondering what was going to happen tomorrow on Sunday before he fell into a peaceful slumber.

* * *

**I think you all have a good guess on who it was XD **


	14. Chapter 14

**Edit: Just added something, sorry. **

**Yep, it was him, that rich guy. **

* * *

Masamune felt refreshed when he woke. The sun was seeping through the window and he turned, chuckling as he watched Ritsu turn in his sleep to avoid the light.

Then it dawned on him.

Today was Sunday- that meant tomorrow was...

His eyes widened in horror: _MONDAY._

He had to go to work, and for more than 4 hours he couldn't see Ritsu. Normally back then, he would go visit Ritsu when he was in a coma at every opportunity.

Quickly he turned to hug Ritsu to himself, the latter mumbling in sleepy protest before comfortably settling within his embrace. Maybe he could keep Ritsu in his office, preferably sitting on his lap or desk. No, he couldn't do that. He sighs, running a hand through Ritsu's hair and appreciating those soft locks. He was so soft, and so warm.

Trying to think about something else to take away work from his head, Masamune gazed around his room while still hugging Ritsu. His room that he shared with Ritsu. Ritsu who had only some of his stuff here. Technically speaking, Ritsu hasn't completely moved in. Masamune wanted all of this things here, even if he had to move them to a bigger apartment.

The gears began turning in his mind- if they did move to a bigger place...

It would be like starting turning a new leaf. He can imagine himself and Ritsu playfully fighting over where to put things, sorting their clothing together, figure out how to sort their huge loads of books, buying new furniture...

"Mm..?" Ritsu stirs in his arms, blinking awake. "Good morning." He arches his back slightly to stretch before moving away from Masamune and relaxing on the now cool side of the bed.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," Ritsu sighs, closing his eyes, "Everything feels nice."

"Hey," Masamune began, shuffling closer to him, "Do you want to visit An and them? We can also get all your stuff."

"We... we don't have to get _all_ of my stuff. Maybe just some clothes, some books... but not all of it." Ritsu paused for a moment before giving his husband a small smile. "I think it keeps my mother at ease."

The look he was given got him backtracking. "No, not as if I'm giving her hope that we're going to divorce- not that- just..." he sighs. "It sort of helps her, I think, I mean... the only things Mom kept from my father when he died was his journals and the jewelry he gave her. When she would get worried she would bring them out and look through them, and sometimes clean the jewelry... it eased her stressed and helped her think."

He continues, "An's father, my other father, he has An's mother's stuff too, though most of them belong to An now." His breath hitches, and he sighs again, facing up at the ceiling in contemplation.

"What is it?" Masamune asks, pressing against him as close as possible. He grabs the hand closest to him, holding a grip on it. "Tell me what you're thinking about."

After a while, Ritsu responds to him. "I think Mom might like you guys a little."

"...Huh?" Now he was lost.

Ritsu nods. "It's just that... I mean, with An, her father likes you and Kazuto both. But Mom..." He turns to face him. "I think she feels that, if she accepts you guys openly, acknowledges you two, it means letting us go and she's not ready for that yet."

Masamune was quiet at this, and after a few seconds, Ritsu had the urge to backpedal. Maybe he said too much. He didn't mean to talk so much, maybe he should-

"Would your father accept me?"

"W-what?" He wasn't expecting this question. "My Dad..?"

"Would he ignore me? I mean, you are their only son..."

"You are an only son too!"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Masamune replies, glancing at him, "My mother probably has a new family now, and my stepfather probably. Maybe my real father too."

And that's when Masamune caught it, that look Ritsu had the other night before asking about the driver who hit him. "Were you wondering about that?" Of course Ritsu would wonder that, Masamune thought, seeing that the time before Ritsu got into the accident was when he had those problems.

"I-If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine."

"No, I'll tell you. Answer my question first."

"Oh, um-" Ritsu pursed his lips in thought. "I don't think he'd ignore you; he was a fairly open person, and he would want me to be happy."

"I see." Masamune pauses, gathering his own thoughts. "I still don't know who my father is; my mother refused to tell me. I do know though it was a small affair, and they immediately dropped all contact with each other. It was a little before she married my stepfather, so of course he thought I was his son. Only for a little bit though."

"A little bit?"

"I think he caught on as I was growing up that I didn't have any of his physical features. For me though, I thought I looked like my grandfather or something at least since I didn't look like him. He was more mad at my mother than me though," he scoffs, "At least I think so anyway; I've never seen him since the divorce."

"What? So your stepfather wasn't really part of what happened?"

"It was mostly my mother. I was happy that I got to stay with Yokozawa and his family, but my mother wanted me to go back and stay with her when it happened. I brought up that I would rather stay with my 'Dad' and then she blew up on me. My stepfather would never accept my calls or anything, and it just got more frustrating. I never talked with her after that."

"Oh," Ritsu says quietly, "So that's what happened?"

"Yes..." Masamune sighs, his thumb rubbing circles absentmindedly on the hand he held of Ritsu's. They were both staring up at the ceiling. "And I'm sorry that I hurt you because of it. Even around when we started talking to each other in high school, I've always turned my frustrations on you."

"N-no, it's okay."

"No, it's not. I hurt you, and I never want to do that again."

Ritsu didn't know how to answer that. How was he supposed to? "I-"

"I love you." He stares over at Masamune in surprise, and the latter was still staring up at the ceiling, smiling. "I love you," he repeats again in a whisper-like voice, happy.

"A-are you okay?" Ritsu asks hesitantly, blushing. He wasn't used to this yet. "It's kind of weird..."

"Weird?" Masamune chuckles, looking over at Ritsu now and smiling softly.

"Wh... what is it?" His husband continued to merely smile at him. Ritsu found himself getting up and off the bed, flustered. However, the hand he was holding stopped him, and he looked back to see Masamune outstretching his other hand towards him.

"Come here, Ritsu."

Wavering, he went closer, yelping in surprise as his lover yanked him into his embrace. He shivered involuntarily when he felt his forehead being kissed.

"Why don't we just stay home the rest of the day. Let's just stay here."

"What? No!" Ritsu tried getting up. "Let's go visit everyone, and oh, buy..." He remembers the day back when they came home the first day from the hospital. "Buy um... lubrication. It's also called lube right?" He didn't expect to be responded with such a dumbstruck expression. "What's wrong?"

"You... You still want me?"

"H-huh?" Ritsu was confused. "I don't-" He was hugged tightly, no escape from the bed. "Masamune?!"

"...You make me so happy." Then came a soft sigh.

_'What did I do?'_ wondered Ritsu, before Masamune got them both up and out of the bed to get washed up for the morning.

* * *

"That man was nice, wasn't he?" Ritsu comments as they walk out from the shop. "Everything in there is so strange though," he shudders remembering that 'thing' shaped like a cactus. How anyone can put that up them, he doesn't know and he never wants to know.

"Yeah..." For Masamune though, his experience left him to turn next time to purchasing on the internet. That man was too nice to Ritsu for his liking. And too close with his hands...

"Ah!" He looks to Ritsu, who faces him eagerly. "I'll go pick up the rings tomorrow! The afternoon right? Should I bring you lunch too?" He pauses, wondering aloud, "Can I do that?"

Lunch...

Lunch! The realization made the older man dread less about tomorrow.

"I should go find a job too," Ritsu says, glancing around. "Maybe I'll go to my old job and ask around."

"You don't have to work," Masamune says, grabbing his hands while the other held the lube they bought at the shop. "Just take it easy from now on."

"I can't do that. Also, I want to see how they're doing."

Masamune thought for a moment. "What _was _your old job?" He doesn't remember Ritsu telling him about it.

"Oh, I never told you huh? I," he begins, "I helped at a bath house. I was still working there when I got into the accident, so I wonder if Takafumi told them what happened to me."

"So Yokozawa knew about your job?"

"He helped me get it so yeah, of course he knew." He remembers something. "Do I still have a cell phone?"

"I don't think so," Masamune says, now pulling him around to find a cell phone store. "We should go get you a new one. I think An had it stopped when you went inactive."

"Okay," he says as they walk. "Can I just get one like my old one though? Like yours? You haven't changed yours, right?"

"You have a point. I guess I'll upgrade and you and I can get iPhones."

"Are you sure?" Considering he didn't use his old cell phone all that much, Ritsu didn't think it was worth getting such an advanced phone compared to a simple flip phone. "I don't think I'm going to use it much."

"Oh, you will. I'm going to call you while I'm at work, and when you go out on your own. You better pick up too or I'll get worried. I think I can track you on GPS too."

"I-Isn't that a little too much?"

"It's never too much when it comes to you. I want to be sure you're safe wherever you go."

...

"Woah, you guys are here too?" At the store, Ritsu turned his head to see Shin. Masamune was talking to a sales associate.

"Hi, Dr. Haitani."

Shin laughs. "Don't sweat the Dr. here, Haitani or Shin's just fine! How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine! We're getting new phones."

"Sweet, then you can get my number later. Why don't you come in for a check-up tomorrow? I remember Eru telling me days back that you were worried about if you and Takano were to h-"

"Ah yes! I'll come in tomorrow!" Ritsu interrupts, flushing. "Don't finish it!"

He laughs. "Alright." Another sales associate calls him over, "I guess it's my turn. You can just come in with Takano in the morning and I'll look you over."

"Oh, okay," Ritsu says waving him bye. It was weird seeing Shin in casual clothing.

"Was that Haitani?" He turns to see Masamune beside him.

"Yeah. He's going to give me a check-up so I'll be going with you tomorrow."

"That's good," Masamune says, before ushering Ritsu towards one of the counters. "They're getting them ready and then we can go see Yokozawa. Or do you want to see An and them first?"

"No, I want to go see Takafumi and Misaki. Sorata is there too right?" Ritsu asks as they wait. "I wonder if he still remembers me."

"I think he will. Maybe to him it'll be like we never stopped visiting."

* * *

**Next time is the other side of their Sunday and they visit Takafumi and Misaki, and then An and family. Takafumi's second case hasn't started yet, if any of you were curious :p **

**It'll start either Monday night or Tuesday. And it isn't an OC that's going to be the accused :p **

**So, Henmi's first name is Masakazu. XD I didn't find out until now. I can't wait to translate it later!**


	15. Chapter 15

**I think... I might... do something close to M... maybe. We'll see. Not this chapter though, or the next...**

**Oh, and FYI, some scenes with Takafumi and Misaki won't appear but will be referenced in Takafumi's story, that primarily will focus a little more on his cases and interactions rather than mostly every step of the day like Ritsu and Masamune's.**

**For instance, for Case 2 (which is going to happen soon) in Takafumi's story, it's going to start some moments before or after the crime happens instead of going on for days building up like I'm doing right now with Ritsu and Masamune. Maybe.**

* * *

"Where are you guys?" Masamune asked, a little annoyed, into his cell phone. Ritsu, meanwhile, bent down in front of Takafumi's apartment door, knocking lightly upon hearing Sorata meow from the other side. His other hand was holding what they had bought earlier from the sex store.

"What? And you can't come back now?" Masamune huffs, before letting out a scoff and a "Of course" in between silences listening to whatever Takafumi was saying to him. "Fine, bye."

"Where are they?" Ritsu asks, standing

"They're watching something at the movies. I have the spare key he gave us from back then, so he said to go ahead and use it. He says to give them two hours."

"Oh, okay," Ritsu says, moving aside for Masamune to open the door.

...

"He got so big!" Ritsu exclaims, petting behind Sorata's ears when the latter pressed himself against Ritsu's side as he sat on the couch.

"Is Yokozawa even trying on the diet?" Masamune thought aloud, chuckling when the feline gave him a look before jumping off the couch to stretch and go drink water.

"It's not like he's fat, just..." he trails off, not being able to find the words to describe it to Masamune. "...Not fat."

Seeing that Sorata had left room between them, Masamune scooted closer to his love, leaning in close with one arm around him. Ritsu flushed at the closeness, hoping his husband wasn't going to try anything. "Ritsu..." he whispers.

"Y...Yes?" Ritsu says, wondering why their voices are suddenly quiet. He turned his head away, feeling the sensation of Masamune's nose trailing lightly down the side of his head to kiss his cheek.

He swallowed, shivering and unconsciously exposing more of his neck as his husband began kissing his way down. Eventually he was asked, "Remember the last time we were on this couch?"

For a small moment all Ritsu could hear was their mixed breathing , blinking in thought before flushing deeply at the memory of that day Takafumi left them alone in his apartment to go take tests. He tried pushing himself away from his husband. "N-no, I mean yes! But, we... we shouldn't..."

"...? We shouldn't what? I was talking about when we all sat here together for reading and studying."

Ritsu blinks in revelation. "O-oh..." He looks off on the floor in mortification, hoping Masamune wouldn't say anything about what he thought was the last time they were on the couch.

"What last time are you remembering?" he hears his husband ask, curious.

"I-It's nothing! Haha..." Ritsu tried to think of something else, fast. "J... Just when we had that pillow fight!"

"What?" He didn't see the look of disbelief Masamune was giving him. "Why did you think it was that?"

"It... It was the first thing that came to mind of course! Takafumi yelled at us when you threw the pillow too far and broke one of his mugs..." He... he wasn't lying, for that did happen... technically.

"Oh yeah," Masamune frowned, "He made me pay double for how much that mug cost."

"Meow." They hear Sorata meowing and scratching something in the kitchen.

"I'll go see what it is," Masamune says, getting up and heading to the kitchen.

Sighing in relief, Ritsu looked to the foot of the couch where he had put the bag of lube before blushing and averting his eyes to his hands, flustered. _'That was close,'_ the male thought, his body still feeling the lingering sensations where Masamune had kissed him._ 'He didn't recall that one time we-'_ Ritsu shakes his head, trying to shake the embarrassing memory out.

If Masamune realized what he was remembering, the both of them might repeat what they had done the first time on their friend's couch and Ritsu did not want that to happen again. He was grateful Takafumi never suspected a thing after he came home from those tests, even when Masamune had thought it was funny to hint it to him with purposely constructed phrasing.

...

_'That's what he thought was the last time?'_ Masamune thought, pouring more water in Sorata's bowl. _'Does he seriously not remember what we did on that couch after Yokozawa left for his tests?'_

It all started out with them supposed to be studying and reading, but that never happened. Once Takafumi had left for his tests, he took his chance and wonderfully ravished his then boyfriend.

_'How can he not remember? He...'_ Masamune starts smiling._ 'He called me by my name for the first time and then afterwards...'_

He then reverted back to thinking in disbelief, _'How can he not remember?!'_

_'Well, I'll get him to remember.'_ Walking back to sit down, he resumed his arm position around Ritsu and went in close again. "What are you thinking about?" he asks quietly, inching closer and closer.

"H-huh? Oh," Ritsu looks ahead to the other side of them on the couch. "Takafumi got a new TV..."

"That's nice," Masamune says absentmindedly, trailing his nose down Ritsu's neck like earlier, gently kissing in a repetitive manner. "Also, I want you to know," he mutters in between kisses, "Just to clarify..."

"Hmmn...w-what is it?" Came the quiet voice. He glanced up to see Ritsu's eyelids lowered, having been quickly lulled by his soft kissing.

_'Cute...'_ Instead of answering straight away, he continued to press his lips against Ritsu's skin down his neck to his collarbone. The smell his husband's pheromones added on to his growing desire to keep kissing, and he took his sweet time.

...

Minutes later, he began debating whether to leave a mark or not until Ritsu broke the silence with a whisper. "Masamune?"

"..Yes?"

"You didn't answer me."

"Oh." He brought his head up and sat up properly to eye level with Ritsu. "You really don't remember what we did on this couch? After Yokozawa left for his tests?"

Now Ritsu's eyes widened. "W-what?"

"Ritsu," Masamune began, thinking he really didn't remember and decided to be blunt with him, "We did it here and Yokozawa still has no clue."

"..." It piqued his interest seeing his lover flush, staring off to the side. Since his hair from the angle he was looking at did cover his face, Masamune could read him, blinking in surprise at the 'So that _was_ it,' face. "You remember?"

"..." Ritsu refused to look over at him, embarrassed.

And moments later Masamune remembered what Ritsu had protested earlier to him when he brought it up.

_"N-no, I mean yes! But, we... we shouldn't..." _Instead of scolding at himself for not understanding what his husband had said he merely smiles: Ritsu remembered, and that was all that mattered.

It wasn't a smile that could be called handsome, or flashy. It was almost kind of like a happy idiot smile that was positively infectious. The effect was, however, something that didn't affect Ritsu that way at the moment; the latter instead flushed and fled the scene to the confines of the bathroom.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Masamune shook his head, having dozed off while sitting against the bathroom door. He looks up at Takafumi, who had his arms crossed and waiting for an explanation.

"Waiting for Ritsu to come out," he yawns, looking around Takafumi and seeing no sign of anyone else. "Where's Misaki and Henmi?"

"Still watching the movie, about an hour left of it, I think. You didn't answer my call so I thought I'd come a little early," he huffs, "And I see you here sleeping in front of my bathroom. What happened?"

"We were just talking about stuff, and it embarrassed him," he lifts a hand to shake the locked doorknob. "Ritsu?"

A soft thud was heard against the door, for Ritsu was sleeping against the door just like his husband was, stubborn and reluctant to come out fearing Masamune was going to pounce. "Mn...? Masamune?"

"Yokozawa's here. Come out."

"Okay," came the yawn, and Ritsu hesitantly peeked out before walking out of the bathroom and shutting the door behind him. "Hi..." he greeted to Takafumi.

...

"I'm telling you he lost weight!"

"No he didn't! Are you even trying?!"

Ritsu watched the two as they bickered over Sorata, taking bites of some cake Misaki had made. _'It's really good...'_

Look at him!" Masamune points, and they look over at the feline laying near Ritsu's feet on his back, his stomach long and rounding. "He's like an omelet with rice stuffed inside!"

Ritsu coughed a little at that as he swallowed his bite of cake, trying not to laugh. He then put his plate of cake on the coffee table before picking Sorata up, with slight trouble, setting the cat comfortably on his lap.

"Hey..." Ritsu looks at Takafumi questionably as he asked, "You don't find him heavy?"

"A little, but it's fine."

"He's probably at least 12 or 13 pounds then," Masamune gauged, knowing that Ritsu couldn't lift past around 17lbs. He scoffs in defeat. "That is normal isn't it? He still looks inflated though."

"You're right about that," Takafumi says, "but he hasn't been acting strange, so I think he's okay." For a while, he looked over at Ritsu and Sorata before speaking again. "You aren't working any time soon right? Do you want to take Sorata home with you guys?"

"Today?" Ritsu says in surprise, looking at Masamune. "Can he?"

Masamune pursed his lips in thought before replying. "How about wait a few more days... I want to make sure you'll be okay by yourself at home before trying anything."

"Oh...," Ritsu says, a little saddened.

"If you have some troubles lifting Sorata," Takafumi began, eyeing Sorata's carrier close to the kitchen, "I think you'll reach your limit if you have to carry Sorata in his carrier along with his stuff by yourself. You can't really walk long either right?"

"But..." Ritsu bites his lip in thought before standing up, picking up Sorata and walking over to the kitchen. Once putting Sorata in his carrier he used both hands to pick it up, his hands slightly shaking due to the weight. "It's not that heavy..."

With a sigh, Masamune goes to pick up a bag of cat food and plops it on the carrier. Yelping in surprise, Ritsu lets go, flinching at the thud of the carrier hitting the floor and Sorata's hissing and scratching at the abrupt fall. A lot of the cat food falls out to the ground since it wasn't closed all the way.

"OY! You idiot!" Takafumi yells at Masamune, "You're picking all that up! We just cleaned the floors this morning!" Masamune opened his mouth to speak before clamming up in admittance of his screw up. Now with a irritated sigh, he grabs the cat food bag and begins scooping it up.

"Aah," Ritsu gets an idea. "Can I just take some cat food home along with some of his toys and I can just pick him up tomorrow?"

"I think that's a good idea," Takafumi says, bending down to let Sorata out. "Masamune, you?"

"Yeah, I think we can do that," Masamune grunts, affectionately shooing away Sorata's paws as the black and white feline tried to paw him thinking he was hoarding the cat food all to himself.

* * *

Seeing that they wanted to get to An's quickly before heading home to make dinner, Ritsu and Masamune left, now taking the subway.

"Can we take some books home?" Ritsu asks, sitting next to his husband. "Just one or two, maybe I can take a photo album too... Oh," Ritsu looks questioningly at Masamune. "Do you have pictures from your childhood?"

"Hmm," Masamune frowned. "I think school ones, but I don't think I have any baby pictures..."

"Well, I want to see them." He smiles, "You were probably very cute when you were a kid."

"No way, you'd be cuter," Masamune grins, pinching one of Ritsu's cheeks gently. "Like a little prince."

"Wouldn't I be handsome then?" Ritsu laughs, remembering something, "I remember when me and An were younger. When we would have no one else to play with I would pretend to be the Prince and she would be the Princess Knight fighting imaginary dragons to save me."

Masamune raised a brow. "Princess Knight?"

"Yeah... Sometimes we switched of course," Ritsu explains, "I didn't want to be the one to be saved all the time."

...

"Rittie!" An shouts excitedly, pulling him into a hug before seeing Masamune and yanking him over into the hug. "You too!"

"A-An, won't this hurt the baby?" Ritsu asks hesitantly, wary of his body being hugged hard against his sister's pregnant stomach.

"It's fine, it's fine!" She says, smiling as she let them go, her hands now on her hips. "We're strong!" She exclaims, ushering them inside.

"Are Mom and Dad here?" Ritsu asks, him and Masamune taking off his shoes.

"Nope," she replies, "Daddy had a business trip until Thursday and Mom went with him. It's just me and Kazuto."

"Really..." Ritsu says, feeling somewhat relived and saddened at the same time.

"Hey guys," Kazuto walks in from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel. "Why don't you guys stay for dinner? We're having friends over and we're making a lot too."

An beams at them. "Please? They're all our bridesmaids and groomsmen, and I want you to meet them! Also I want to show you the nursery and go over our pictures, please?"

"Okay," Ritsu answers, excited, before turning to Masamune. "Want to see my room now?"

"Eh, that's right," An giggles, "You haven't been in there yet huh Masamune? Be careful, it's really messy, and we didn't rearrange anything mind you, it's all Rittie."

"N-no! I am not that messy!" Ritsu huffs, red in embarrassment, pulling Masamune towards the hallway. "You'll see!"

"We'll call you guys when they get here and the food's ready!" An says cheerfully. "Don't have too much fun in your room!"

...

Masamune simply looked ahead at Ritsu as the latter pulled him along to reach his room.

He was going to be in Ritsu's room for the first time.

His heart refused to stop racing, and his mind went back to when Ritsu went into his room the first time.

What was he going to see? A huge load of books like in his old room?

Ritsu's hands felt so warm too...

And he suddenly stopped, and Masamune was startled for a second. "Ritsu?"

"...C-can you," from behind he can see his husband's ears were red. "Can you wait out here for a little bit?"

Masamune snickers. "Are you going to clean your room real quick?" he laughs when his assumptions were confirmed with the embarrassed glare he was met with. "You've seen my old room messy before," he goes ahead and opens the door to go in. "Let me see."

"W-wait...!"

Masamune goes in, unprepared for what will hit him.

* * *

**I'm sorry! I'll update again soon with the other half!**

***Since the reading and studying didn't happen in Ritsu's point of view- just Takafumi leaving them alone in his apartment for the first time to take tests- there was no particular reading and studying day, so that's why he was stumped.**

**For anyone wondering this, but Takafumi isn't a groomsmen, because: **

**1. He would be technically Ritsu and Masamune's best man/groomsmen, not An and Kazuto's.**

**2. An and Kazuto consider him a family friend, and they don't hang out as much as Ritsu and Masamune do, even in between those three years, **

**3. Takafumi would have refused this night anyway because Henmi, Misaki, and him are doing something.**


End file.
